Senior Charge Nurse-Emergency Room

Role Overview

Senior Charge Nurse–Emergency Room at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC).

Role Purpose

The Senior Charge Nurse supports the Nurse Manager in planning, coordinating, and evaluating operational, fiscal, and personnel activities within defined areas of practice to ensure the provision of quality patient care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The role advocates for and allocates available resources to promote efficient, effective, safe, and compassionate nursing care based on current standards of practice, manages unit budgets, promotes shared decision-making at unit level, and collaborates with unit-based dyad and triad partners from operations and medical teams to ensure smooth running of the unit.

Key Responsibilities

Clinical Care and Patient Management

• Demonstrate competence in the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of patient care needs.
• Ensure nursing staff works within their capacity, experience, training, and scope of practice.
• Monitor direct and indirect patient care to achieve optimum patient outcomes.
• Liaise with the Nurse Manager or Nurse Supervisor to ensure patient care load is addressed with appropriate staffing and skill mix in an environment that is safe for patients and nurses.
• Assist with all levels of emergencies according to organizational policies and procedures.
• Respond to all levels of emergencies according to organizational policies and procedures.
• Facilitate effective communication between the patient, family, and the interdisciplinary healthcare team as required.
• Liaise with other healthcare providers as necessary to ensure appropriate and timely interventions for patients and for discharge planning.
• Attend multidisciplinary care rounds and family meetings.

Resource Management and Coordination

• Monitor and coordinate effective and efficient utilization of human resources, consumables, and equipment.
• Liaise with Pharmacy services to ensure the provision of medication needs of the unit.
• Manage the practice setting, ensuring effective use of resources and workforce planning by monitoring workload and through efficient rostering.
• Maintain appropriate staffing levels taking into account the role and competence of staff when delegating work.
• Participate in recruitment and selection of appropriately skilled staff.
• Own accountability for decisions relating to the management of physical, human, and financial resources in own area including recruitment and workforce planning.
• Delegate to the nursing team in response to an emergency.

Staff Supervision, Development, and Performance

• Monitor staff performance, providing regular constructive feedback, coaching, guidance, and support to team members on the shift.
• Provide guidance and advice to the patient care team on clinical and administrative matters.
• Mentor and train new staff while providing support and guidance to all staff members.
• Identify learning needs of staff on the unit in conjunction with the Clinical Resource Nurse and Manager and assist with the implementation of educational activities.
• Ensure and support the learning and development of all staff, creating a learning environment that ensures effective learning opportunities for all staff, including appropriate orientation and induction programs and a range of clinical support strategies such as mentoring, coaching, and clinical supervision.
• Support the career pathway of individual team members by ensuring all staff have a Knowledge and Skills Framework, Individual Performance Review, and Personal Development Plans and that they maintain up-to-date knowledge of current clinical and professional issues and legalities.
• Manage the nursing team by ensuring compliance of staff with professional standards, legislation, national and organizational policies.
• Initiate action and report to the appropriate manager when staff behavior and/or performance does not meet professional standards.
• Act as a role model, creating a supportive ethos to empower staff to contribute to the delivery of high-quality person-centered care.

Quality Improvement and Standards Monitoring

• Monitor and evaluate unit operations and services in order to identify problems and take a lead role in improving systems and safe patient care.
• Participate in interdisciplinary teams and performance improvement projects.
• Set and monitor standards and quality of clinical practice and ongoing management of the nursing team.
• Develop clinically effective practice through the effective utilization and integration of evidence-based practice.
• Monitor clinical care to ensure clinical standards are met and identify variances and initiate corrective measures as required.
• Ensure quality standards of nursing documentation are maintained according to organizational policy.
• Monitor and audit compliance with organization documentation standards.

Safety, Risk Management, and Infection Control

• Ensure provision of a clean and safe working environment that minimizes risks to patients, visitors, and staff.
• Undertake patient and environmental risk assessments and document corrective action to improve patient outcomes as required.
• Maintain patient and environmental risk assessments and document corrective actions to improve patient outcomes as required.
• Minimize exposure to incidents of infection or cross-infection of patients, staff, visitors, and the public.
• Ensure staff adheres to the infection control policies and procedures of the organization.
• Promote and audit compliance with the organization's Infection Control policies.

Incident Management and Reporting

• Facilitate reporting of incidents occurring within the organization by proper coordination and ensuring corrective action is taken.
• Identify, investigate, report, and implement corrective action for incidents or complaints as appropriate and complete appropriate documentation according to organization policy.

Person-Centered Care

• Ensure coordination of the patient's journey by planning and coordinating the episode of care including the smooth transition to other settings, promoting effective discharge and communication with interdisciplinary teams as required.
• Develop a culture of integrated person-centered care by promoting a caring environment where diversity issues are respected and patients are enabled to be partners in their care.

Professional Development and Compliance

• Demonstrate evidence of mandatory and unit-specific competencies completion, accredited and non-accredited Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) Units DOH and organization requirements, and ongoing professional development in leadership and management.
• Maintain own Professional Portfolio as per DOH policy.
• Perform other related duties as assigned by the unit manager.

Qualifications & Experience

• Not less than 8 years of clinical experience in appropriate and relevant healthcare settings post-qualification.
• Not less than 2 years in a Senior Charge Nurse (S.C.N.) position, OR not less than 3 years in a Charge Nurse position.
• Bachelor degree in Nursing, OR Degree in Nursing (minimum 2 years course duration) AND Registration as a Registered Nurse from Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.
• Valid and current national license.
• BLS (Basic Life Support).

Skills & Competencies

• ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) and PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) relevant to area of specialty.