Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner- CHI Cardiology

What we do here changes the world. UTHealth Houston is Texas’ resource for healthcare education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care. That’s where you come in.

Once you join us you won't want to leave. It’s because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you’d expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:  

• 100% paid medical premiums for our full-time employees  
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equates to around 37-38 days per year) 
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you’ll accrue! 
• Longevity Pay (Monthly payments after two years of service) 
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan! 

We take care of our employees! As a world-renowned institution, our employees’ wellbeing is important to us. We offer work/life services such as... 

• Free financial and legal counseling 
• Free mental health counseling services 
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs 
• Other employee discounts including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc. 
• Resources for child and elder care 
• Plus many more! 

Position Summary:

Provides advanced nursing care to patients with complex acute, critical, and/or chronic health conditions in a clinic or hospital setting in one or more specialized areas under the direction of a physician.

Position Key Accountabilities:

Transplant APP Role and Responsibilities:

• Inpatient Role:
• Rounds on inpatients on HF, VAD, and transplant service in a consultant role. Writes consult notes
• Consults on patients referred for HF outside of cardiac center (In ED, NICU, PICU, etc)
• Reviews cath schedule and places orders for any transplant patients scheduled for cath/biopsy.  Reviews heart biopsies, and communicates with team and families.
• Reviews lab work for inpatients as well as patients coming for cardiac catheterizations (ideally should go to the cath lab with the patient).  Makes medication adjustments as needed after discussing with the attending.
• Manages drug levels for inpatients after team decision.
• Touches base with families who are inpatient and awaiting transplant on a regular basis to assess needs, support
• Daily VAD interrogation note for any inpatients on a VAD.
• Acts as resource for internal and external health care providers.
• Communicate daily (ideally multiple times per day with the service attending and the team)

• Outpatient Role:
• Reviews upcoming clinic schedule, reviews each patient and reviews orders for the visit.
• Completes outpatient clinic visits including history, exam, and medical decision making. In the future they may be able to bill visits independently, or “incident to” the physician (where the physician is in the clinic but does not need to see the patient). If NP is new to transplant, may see patients with attending initially, but should still be responsible for entering orders, reviewing labs and making medication adjustments, and ordering any follow up testing. 
• See VAD patients in clinic, order and interpret labs, and helps the coordinator perform VAD download in clinic if needed.
• Help to coordinate other services for our patients (those in need of cardiac anesthesia, etc).
• Provides and maintains comprehensive documentation of evaluation process and makes appropriate referrals to specialists.
• Implements clinical pathways, notes deviation for continuous quality improvement (QI) purposes
• Communicates to the patient the role of the PCP, and reviews this with the PCP to ensure coordination of care and appropriate follow-up.
• Assesses the patient’s emotional and social status at visits and refers to psychosocial team when needed.
• Identifies appropriate vaccinations and prescribes/discuss with PCP as indicated.

• Transplant Eval/Listing:
• Meets with family to discuss transplant with either the transplant attending or transplant coordinator
• Obtains consent for evaluation, listing if coordinator is not available
• Places orders for labs and other testing needed, and follow up on all the results
• Ensures multidisciplinary evaluations/consults are completed and documentation is made in EMR
• Backup to RN Coordinator for listings, removals in UNET as well as for OR documentation
• Participates in discharge teaching and discharge checklist with the coordinator
• Office:
• Manages “sick calls”, as well as calls from outside providers regarding patients and referrals/second opinions
• Provides letters to families, insurance companies, schools as needed
• Provides medication refills
• Contacts patients to relay results or medication changes as directed by physician
• Reviews the list of patients prepared by the coordinator prior to discuss at weekly transplant conference and make changes as necessary

Professional Development

• Reviews and integrates into practice the current professional literature in the field of pediatric HF, VAD and transplant. Reviews all the current protocols.
• Presents topics at practice-related conferences
• Participates in and supports ongoing clinical research within the transplant center, and publishes results as appropriate
• Participates in professional HF/transplant meetings and organizations (ACTION, PHTS)

Certification/Skills:

Current Texas Licensure as a Registered Nurse
Current Texas Licensure as an APRN-NP
Current specialty certification as required by department, excluding FNP certification unless paired with a post master’s certification in specialty.
Basic Life Support (BLS) certified or specialty certification as required by department.

Minimum Education:

Masters in Nursing as NP or Masters in Nursing with completion of a post-masters Nurse Practitioner Certification Program.

Minimum Experience:

None; previous experience in area of clinical focus preferred.

Physical Requirements:

Exerts up to 50 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 20 pounds frequently and/or up to 10 pounds constantly to move objects.

Security Sensitive:

This job class may contain positions that are security sensitive and thereby subject to the provisions of Texas Education Code § 51.215

Veteran Information:

Military occupations that relate to the initial selection criteria and registration or licensure requirements for this position may include but are not limited to: 0904, 0963, 1976, 46Y1C, 46Y1H, 66B, 66C, 4A0X1, 46YX, 65D, 230X, PHA10, 42GX, 66P, 66R, 290X.

For a complete list please visit www.uthealth-veterans.jobs .

Residency Requirement:

Employees must permanently reside and work in the State of Texas.