Nurse Navigator - Head & Neck Clinic, Highlands Ranch (Part-time, 0.8 FTE

Nurse Navigator
- Head & Neck Clinic, Highlands Ranch

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Department:
Community Practice

Job Title:

Nurse Navigator
- Head & Neck Clinic, Highlands Ranch (Part-time, 0.8 FTE) Position #:  – Requisition #: 40728

Job Summary:

The Nurse Navigator (NN) will be a member of the care team that will be focused on providing personalized one-on-one patient care. The NN assesses and evaluates patient conditions, and then plans, implements, provides, and documents patient care in a manner that follows professional nursing standards and outlined practices. The NN will assist in expediting the process for evaluation of clinic patients through a multidisciplinary team approach, coordination of services, and scheduling exams, optimizing patient care outcomes.

The NN will help the patient navigate clinic visits, follow-up testing, diagnostics, labs, and other services, coordinate care to reduce gaps in understanding, counsel, and educate patients and families, and ensure high-quality patient outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

Patient Care (50%) Facilitates patient intake by phone, email, or online through Epic MHC. Provides high-touch and high-quality personalized patient navigation. Works closely with patients and families throughout the full continuum of care. Triages, coordinates care, and orders appropriate patient testing under University of Colorado School of Medicine protocols and guidance with a heavy focus on managing needs within and outside of the organization to prevent unnecessary ER visits, hospital admissions, and/or readmissions.

Acts as Liaison between patient and clinical staff, administration, physicians, managed care companies, community/external resources to address the health needs of patients by assessing clinical, emotional, spiritual, psychosocial, and financial barriers to care. Once identified, works with the care team to find and/or create a plan to overcome barriers for successful health outcomes Demonstrates effective communication with patients, families, peers, members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team, and community organizations and resources.

Collaborates directly with primary physician and care team to help educate/reinforce specific disease processes, treatments, and recommendations to properly diagnose, treat, and mitigate problems based on the multidisciplinary care plan. Facilitates resolution to patient care gaps and follows up by both proactively reaching out to patients/families and continuously addressing direct phone calls and messages from patients. Questions and prevents duplicative, fragmented, or unnecessary use of resources/services.

Questions, tests/procedures for which the purpose is unclear. Follows up on patient progress relative to subsequent testing, ED visits, hospitalizations, and ensures post-acute plan when needed. Monitors and reports on outcome measures. Participates in clinical operations with patients, rooming patients, taking vitals, and supporting patient needs as assigned. Assists the physician and other providers with procedures as necessary. Reports all test results to the patient as directed by the physician.

Clinic Operations (25%) Participates in relevant quality work groups to assist in the development of patient education materials, clinical pathways, and workflows to improve patient and provider compliance with meeting health measures and meeting the needs of the patients/families. Responsible for managing routine correspondence and medical records to referring agencies and providers per policy. Works creatively to facilitate prompt service to accommodate referring agencies/providers to meet their referral needs.

Cleans and stocks all patient examination rooms; cleans and prepares instruments for procedures; keeps a list of medical supplies needed. Cleans and sterilizes equipment; checks and restocks medication cabinets as necessary. Utilizes current nursing practices to provide patient care while focusing on the needs of the patient and exemplifying service excellence, care, concern, respect, and cooperation. As a member of a health care team, functions in the role of patient advocate by being…