APC, Urgent Care

Company

Cost Center

Supervisory Organization

Grade

Summary

POSITION SUMMARY: Functions in an expanded role as a professional nurse, performing acts of medical diagnosis and prescription of medical therapeutics or corrective measures, in collaboration with a physician.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Qualified individuals must have the ability (with or without reasonable accommodation) to perform the following duties:

• Obtain comprehensive health history: perform physical examination on new admissions and document/dictate in patient record.
• Perform and/or participate in rounds of hospitalized patients, including physical assessment, interpretation of diagnostic studies, interaction with nursing staff and documentation in medical record. 
• Order (verbal or written) common diagnostic studies, laboratory studies and pharmacologic treatment modalities according to written protocol in collaboration with the physician.
• Order (verbal or written) pharmacologics if he/she has obtained prescriptive privileges as documented by a current collaborative practice agreement with a physician member of the LGH Medical and Dental Staff and a current letter of approval of prescriptive authority from the PA State Board of Nursing.  The PA can only write for those pharmacologics identified on the collaborative agreement.

• No pharmacologic orders can be written by a PA while the patient is located in the Emergency Medicine Department unless the PA has prescriptive authority and the Emergency Department is specifically identified in the collaborative agreement as an approved site for prescribing pharmacologics.
• If the PA does NOT have prescriptive privileges, all pharmacologic orders (including diagnostic studies utilizing dye or other pharmacologics) must be written by the PA in the medical record as a verbal order from the collaborating physician and cosigned by the collaborating physician within 24 hours.  

• In collaboration with the attending physician, assist in establishing diagnosis, formulating plan of care, evaluation of patient response, and revising plan of care.
• Consult other physicians and members of the healthcare team and agencies in collaboration with the physician.
• Dictate a consultation report only after the case has been presented to the physician and the collaborating physician has reviewed the chart and evaluated the patient. All dictated consults must state specifically that the physician saw and evaluated the patient and discussed the plan of care. 
• Facilitate the discharge process and dictate discharge summary.
• Perform diagnostic and therapeutic functions within the scope of RN and PA practice as designated by clinical privileges and obtain informed consent as appropriate.  A procedure note must be dictated for all clinical procedures for which the PA has privileges that require competency validation.
• Discuss medical plan with patient/family.  Serve as a liaison between physicians and patient/family as needed to enhance communication and understanding.
• Provide support and clinical expertise to nursing personnel regarding complex patient care issues.
• Participate in collaborative appraisal of his/her own practice with PA peers including mandatory compliance with peer review requirements.

SECONDARY FUNCTIONS: The following duties are considered secondary to the primary duties listed above:

• Provide for the educational needs of the patient/family through verbal and written teaching and development of educational materials.
• Provide for the educational needs of the pre-hospital, nursing, physician staff by discussion, didactic sessions/presentations, trauma nurse course and development of educational materials and programs.
• Provide for the educational needs of the community through verbal and written teaching and development of injury prevention and outreach materials.
• Participates in the on-call responsibilities for this position as required.
• Other duties as assigned.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

MINIMUM REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Current licensure as a Physician Assistant by PA Board of Medicine.
• Graduate of Accredited Physician Assistant training program.
• A health care provider in good standing with Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal and state health insurance programs, i.e. not excluded from participation in Medicare, Medicaid or any other federal or state health insurance program.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Minimum one year experience as a Physician Assistant.

COGNITIVE REQUIREMENTS

ATTENTION/CONCENTRATION – The following level of ability is essential for the jobholder to focus on certain aspects of current experience and reject others:

• The position requires strong concentration skills.  The individual must have the ability to voluntarily sustain concentration to a task over an extended period of time as a result of an effortful and usually deliberate heightened and focused state of attention.

NEW LEARNING AND MEMORY – The following level of ability is essential for the jobholder to learn and retain material:

• A large portion of this position required reliance on verbal memory and new learning.  Efficiency in processing of verbal information, either in written or spoken form, is a major requirement and prerequisite of the job.  The individual must be able to attend to and process multiple bits of information simultaneously.  The individual must be able to organize and categorize this information effectively so that later recall is feasible.

PROBLEM SOLVING, REASONING AND CREATIVE THINKING – The following level of ability that is essential for the jobholder to think (in order to solve a problem) by combining two or more elements from past experience or imaginative thought:

• The position required much autonomy of thought and problem solving.  The individual must be able to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to define problems.  The individual must be able to think abstractly, which is manifested in the ability to form concepts, use categories, generalize from single instances, apply procedural rules and general principles, and be aware of subtle or intrinsic aspects of a problem.  The development of hypothesis and potential solutions to problems involves careful interpretation, analysis and diagnosis.  The individual must be able to collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.  The individual must be able to think creatively with a degree of inventiveness, experimentation and intuition.  They must be able to deal with a variety of concrete and abstract variables.

APTITUDES:  The following are essential requirements of the position in relation to job-worker situations.  These items describe how a worker must adapt, adjust, conform or act:

Leadership, control and planning: Ability to accept responsibility for leadership, direction, control, planning, negotiating, organizing, directing, supervising, formulating practices, or making final decisions.

Performing under stressful conditions: Ability to perform under stress when confronted with emergency, critical, unusual, or dangerous situations, or in situations in which working speed and sustained attention are critical aspects of the job. Is subject to danger or risk, or to tension as a regular, consistent part of the job.

Variety and change: Ability to perform a variety of duties, often changing from one task to another of a different nature without loss of efficiency or composure involving significant differences in technologies, techniques, procedures, environmental factors, physical demands, or work situations.

Communication:  Ability to exchange information with others clearly and concisely; to present ideas, facts and technical information.

Interpersonal relations: Ability to maintain relationships that facilitate task accomplishment; to cooperate and resolve conflicts; to recognize needs and be sensitive of others.

EQUIPMENT USAGE REQUIREMENTS

Equipment/Tools: Computer, Phone, Copier, Printer, Fax, Office Supplies, stethoscope, tubex, BP cuff, scissors, hemostats, thermometer, bedside monitor, computer, infusion pumps, suction units, oxygen meters, PCA pump, Antithrombin stockings, transport monitor

Software: Microsoft Office Products, clinical information system

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Rarely 0-10%; Occasionally 11-35%; Frequently 36-70%; Continuously 71-100%

Body Position/Movement:

• Sit: Frequently
• Stand: Frequently
• Walk: Frequently
• Bend: Rarely
• Push: Occasionally
• Pull: Rarely
• Kneel/Squat: Rarely
• Reach: Occasionally
• Twist: Rarely
• Balance: Rarely
• Climb: Occasionally

Lifting: Degree of physical exertion is:

Light, exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to move objects.

Sensory Abilities specifically required:

• Vision
• Hearing

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

WORKING CONDITIONS: Position involves exposure to the following harmful elements:

• Bio hazardous Waste
• Blood borne Pathogens

Disclaimer: This job description is not intended and should not be construed to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with the job.  It is intended to be a reflection of those principal job elements essential for recruitment and selection, for making fair job evaluations, and for establishing performance standards.  The percentages of time spent performing job duties are estimates, and should not be considered absolute.  The incumbent shall perform all other functions and/or be cross-trained as shall be determined at the sole discretion of management, who has the right to amend, modify, or terminate this job in part or in whole.  Incumbent must be able to perform all job functions safely.