RN Nurse Manager - Inpatient Psych Unit (Child and Adolescent)

Children's National Hospital, based in Washington, D.C., celebrates over 150 years of pediatric care, research, and commitment to community. Today, 150 years stronger, it is among the nation's top 10 children's hospitals. It is highly ranked in all specialties evaluated by U.S. News & World Report. Children's National is transforming pediatric medicine for all children. Children's National has been designated four times in a row as a Magnet hospital, demonstrating the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery.

Unit Description: The inpatient Child Psychiatric Unit is a 12-bed unit. It is a short-term child oriented program designed to provide crisis intervention and stabilization to children 3-13 years of age. The average length of stay is three to seven days. Each patient receives an initial psychiatric evaluation upon admission. The treatment team can consist of the following: Attending Psychiatrist, Individual Therapist (Residents/Fellows), Medical Students, Psychology Interns, Family Therapist (LSW), Expressive Art Therapist, Educational Assistant, Registered Nurses, and Child Psychiatric Specialists.

The Adolescent Psychiatric Unit (APU) is a 14-bed short-term treatment unit that provides an extensive bio-psychosocial and treatment services to the adolescent population between 14-17 years of age. The program is designed to provide a safe and therapeutic environment to facilitate stabilization, evaluation, treatment, and follow up care of the hospitalized adolescent. Milieu Management is utilized to effect a positive change in the patient's behavior by providing a supportive and nurturing environment that encourages and reinforces constructive interactions with others.

All nurse managers are responsible to a nurse executive and manage one or more defined areas of organized nursing services and are accountable for nursing services 24/7 as appropriate for the assigned area(s). Nurse managers participate in planning, implementation, management and evaluation of operations, supervision of staff, budget, regulatory readiness and staffing. Nurse managers facilitate an atmosphere of interactive management and the development of collegial relationships among nursing personnel and other health care disciplines throughout the organization.

• Encourage and share new ways of making the right work easier to do

• Recognize and share incremental improvements in operations

• Promote the success of organizational and department initiatives by clearly aligning programs to the mission

• Establishes collaborative relationships with all members of the healthcare team to ensure optimal state of health and well-being of the patients and families served.

• Utilizes expertise in cultural competency to enhance relationships, processes, and outcomes for patients/families, ensuring education through face to face or telephonic methods.

• Treats every patient/family with dignity and worth, acknowledging their individuality and autonomy.

• Engages opportunities to act in the best interest of the patient/family, building trust and confidence, while upholding moral and legal standards of due care.

• Consistently evaluates care delivery model, incorporating variours sources of data, (e.g. patient satisfaction data) to improve processes.

• Contributes to the development of departmental strategic plans. Supports and communicates the strategic plan to all employees.

• Uses budget tools to forcast and make decisions while analyzing and interpreting variances.

• Accountable for planning for staffing. Continuously monitors and adjusts staffing based on area needs. Uses trended data (e.g. labor productivitity data) to manage the staffing plans.

• Assumes coverage of other areas when the need arises and assumes the responsibility, accountability and level of authority within authorized scope.

• Communicates and escalates clinical and administrative issues as appropriate to senior leadership

• Employs varied performance measures to analyze and enhance patient outcomes and staff/organization effectiveness.

• Ensures regulatory requirements are met and upholds overall safety standards of the work area

• Responsible for full implementation of Shared Nursing Leadership and participates in Hospital wide committees.

• Promotes staff/unit involvement in the community.

• Coordinates mechanisms across systems, institutions, and community to provide continuity of care in collaboration with key stakeholders.

• Employs critical attributes of effective collaboration to create, promote, and maintain an environment that supports successful partnership and high performance team outcomes.

• Develops and engages ongoing monitoring, and staff and member education to assure environmental management plans provide safe, accessible, effective and functional environment of care.

• Ensures that the practice of nursing is based upon scientific evidence and best practice.

• Encourages staff participation in research.

• Encourages and facilitates professional certification and further education.

• Set and clearly communicate team goals and priorities in alignment with departmental goals and budgets

• Develop the budget and assign resources to meet the team goals

• Provide the resources and guidance required for employees to perform effectively

• Develop procedures to ensure high safety and quality, and course-correct as needed

• Identify customers' needs and ensure service excellence in meeting those needs

• Be the link between the department and the team in defining the strategies to meet team goals

• Provide prompt and clear feedback to staff and support their performance

• Ensure team adherence to organizational regulations

• Manage the working environment to promote productivity and motivation

• Represent the team in clearing obstacles to high performance

• Hire staff and develop their capabilities

• Monitor and promote strong employee engagement

• Encourage and share new ways of making the right work easier to do

• Recognize and share incremental improvements in operations

• Promote the success of organizational and department initiatives by clearly aligning programs to the mission