Student Nurse Intern
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Job Description
About Company
Phelps Health is a large hospital and healthcare system, employing 2000 individuals. It is dedicated to serving the heart of small-town Missouri, providing life-saving care and supporting those who deliver it. Phelps Health emphasizes a strong commitment to professional growth, aiming to take its team members “to the top,” and believes in fostering a collaborative “family” environment with superior benefits and opportunities.
Job Description, Detailed
Job Title: Student Nurse Intern
General Summary:
Under the general supervision of a licensed nurse, the Student Nurse Intern performs a wide range of duties related to the treatment and care of patients. This is an entry-level role designed for individuals currently studying nursing or those who have completed a nursing program but have not yet met licensing requirements.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
• Direct Patient Care and Activities of Daily Living (ADLs):
• Provides or assists patients with daily hygiene, including bathing, hair care, oral hygiene, and personal grooming.
• Provides comprehensive skin care, implementing necessary precautions to prevent skin breakdown.
• Performs or assists with physical activity, such as re-positioning, ambulating, performing Range of Motion (ROM) exercises, and utilizing transfer techniques.
• Meets patients’ nutritional needs by providing water, preparing patients for meals, checking and distributing trays, assisting with feeding as needed, recording food intake, ensuring compliance with dietary restrictions, and delivering/recording snacks. The intern must inform the nurse of any patient preference or nutritional concerns.
• Specimen Collection, Monitoring, and Basic Procedures:
• Collects various specimens as required.
• Performs and records vital signs.
• Documents patient intake and output (I&O).
• Performs specific patient care procedures, including sit baths, postmortem care, application of TED hose and sequential compression devices, K-pads, ice packs, and binder application.
• Process Improvement (PI) Involvement:
• Serves in a lead role for Process Improvement (PI) initiatives within the department.
• Actively encourages and supports employee involvement and teamwork in PI initiatives.
• Advanced Technical Procedures and Nursing Interventions (Performed in conjunction with a mentoring nurse and within policy):
• Maintains and monitors oxygen therapy.
• Inserts and removes urinary catheters.
• Discontinues intravenous (IV) therapy.
• Performs nasopharyngeal suctioning.
• Performs dressing changes.
• Conducts wound care and skin management interventions.
• Conducts patient assessments and reviews findings with the primary nurse.
• Assists with Continuous Passive Range of Motion (CPM) therapy.
• Administers intramuscular (IM) and subcutaneous (SQ) injections.
• Inserts and maintains nasogastric (NG) tubes.
• Educates patients and their families in conjunction with the primary nurse.
• Communication and Documentation:
• Maintains close communication with the patient’s primary nurse.
• Immediately notifies the appropriate licensed nurse of any observed changes in patient condition (e.g., changes in vital signs, level of consciousness) or patient/family complaints and concerns.
• Accurately and appropriately documents all activities related to patient care in the Medical Record and other designated forms.
• Documentation responsibilities include recording vital signs, Intake & Output, labeling specimens, completing designated items on the Patient Database, recording percentage and type of meals/snacks eaten, and documenting all interventions and assessments.
Education:
Applicants must currently be enrolled in a School of Nursing or have completed a nursing program but not yet meet licensing requirements.
Work Experience:
This is an entry-level position; no prior work experience is required.
Certification/License:
Not applicable for this role.
Mental/Physical Requirements:
The role demands considerable mental concentration. Physically, it requires frequent heavy lifting and turning, nearly constant walking, and activities such as carrying, pushing, pulling, stooping, crouching, twisting, and reaching.
Working Conditions:
The intern will experience frequent exposure to infectious diseases, radiation, anti-neoplastic agents, and occasionally hostile individuals. There is also frequent exposure to communicable diseases via blood and other body fluids. Minimal physical discomfort is expected.
