Clinical Nurse Specialist

Join UChicago Medicine, as a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) in our Nursing Administration department.

The Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) is a Master's or Doctorate prepared Advanced Practice Nurse with APRN Illinois licensure and certification in a specialty area of nursing. In addition to being the expert clinician in a specialty area, the Clinical Nurse Specialist is also an educator, consultant, researcher, role model, patient advocate, change agent, leader, and cost-effective practitioner.

In collaboration with the medical staff and nursing staff, the Clinical Nurse Specialist provides clinical support to improve patient care, engagement and clinical outcomes. The Clinical Nurse Specialist elevates the standard of professional nursing practice at UCM by developing, coaching and mentoring nurses to become expert clinicians and leaders.

• Collaborates with the multi-disciplinary team in the health status assessment, the provision of nursing care, and the development and implementation of the plan of care for patients and families with complex and/or unique patient care needs.
• Identifies ethical issues in practice and increases awareness of the staff and its impact on ethical decision-making
• Role models and mentors behaviors to establish an environment that promotes excellence in patient care, ethical decision-making and patient advocacy.
• Integrates national standards of care, best practice and benchmarking data into policies, procedures, guidelines, protocols, and clinical competencies.
• Collaborates with the patient, family, and multi-disciplinary team to develop, implement, and evaluate patient education programs based on individual learning needs.
• Collaborates with leadership team to develop models of contemporary cost-effective patient care.
• Identifies the expected outcomes of clinical nursing practice, both in general and for specific patient populations; recommends care and operational processes aimed at achieving the defined outcomes; oversees outcomes assessment initiatives.
• Collaborates to develop appropriate patient care protocols relating to the physical, psychosocial, and developmental needs of neonatal, pediatric, adolescent, adult, and geriatric patients; collaborates with the multi-disciplinary team to educate staff on the utilization of these guidelines and/or protocols; and evaluates the effectiveness of these protocols in nursing practice.
• Demonstrates leadership in operationalizing the mission, vision, and philosophy of nursing at the University of Chicago Medical Center
• In collaboration with the leadership team, recommends practice changes and protocols to achieve compliance with standards and regulations of licensing, regulatory, and accrediting agencies.
• Influences the development of and compliance with medical center policies, procedures and protocols.
• Role models, teaches, and/or mentors professional nurses in their nursing practice, and accountability for their role within the healthcare team.
• Initiates or participates in multi-disciplinary teams to develop and implement programs that focus on patient care issues and positive clinical outcomes.
• Initiates consultation with other members of leadership team to optimize resource utilization and patient care delivery.
• Demonstrates leadership in creative problem-solving strategies.
• Uses creative, innovative systems to role model, teach, coach, and/or mentor nursing staff.
• Enhances staff competence by providing clinical consultation and educational offerings in area of expertise.
• Assesses staff learning needs, initiates creative learning opportunities for staff i.e. Nursing Grand Rounds, Journal Club, conferences, etc.
• Assesses care team members' abilities to provide patient education and…