Nurse; Labor & Delivery GS

Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VA

Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, is the oldest continuously running hospital in the Navy. Our new facility is constantly evolving to reflect our growing population with new technology and training opportunities. Over 4,300 Sailors and civilians work in locations from Yorktown to Chesapeake to deliver health care to the 420,000 Active‑Duty members, family members and retirees living in Hampton Roads.

• Provides comprehensive specialized nursing care to complicated and routine antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, and perioperative obstetric patients and their neonates.

• Assesses, plans, implements, and evaluates complicated and routine obstetric and neonatal patients who require close observation; consistently utilizes advanced assessment skills to identify difficult patient care problems, formulates plans to meet complex patient care needs, and continually revises goals and objectives according to changes in maternal/fetal status.

• Monitors, evaluates, and documents the status of laboring patients through frequent checks of blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and fetal monitor patterns; reports findings to the provider as appropriate, recognizes the stages of labor, and notifies the appropriate provider when delivery is imminent; assists with precipitous deliveries.

• Administers medications, including high‑risk medications, as ordered within the guidelines of nursing practice; monitors patient response to medications, documents and adjusts therapy according to provider order and relevant policies; initiates remedial measures as necessary; monitors patients with epidurals in place and reports to anesthesia provider; is responsible for the security of narcotics, high‑risk medications, and other controlled substances.

• Assists physicians and nurse midwives in examination and treatment in the delivery room; delivers babies in emergency situations; confers with providers concerning instruments, sutures, special equipment and procedures unique to vaginal /instrument/cesarean delivery; is responsible for the setup of the delivery room and handles supplies and equipment including delivery lights, oxygen, suction machines, and maternal and fetal monitoring equipment; provides primary operating‑room circulating duties for cesarean sections and tubal ligations, and assists with operating‑room circulating duties for emergency obstetric surgeries.

• Provides post‑anesthesia care; assesses and cares for obstetric patients that receive epidural, spinal, or general anesthesia; has knowledge of common obstetric anesthetic agents and recognizes complications such as malignant hyperthermia, laryngospasm, bronchospasm, and cardiac arrhythmias.

• Teaches patients and family members about disease processes, normal newborn and postpartum care, pre‑ and post‑operative care, pre‑ and post‑diagnostic procedures, expected and possible adverse reactions to medications, and health promotion; initiates discharge planning and teaching upon admission of each patient; actively participates in multidisciplinary discharge planning; provides emotional support and comprehensive care to patients/families experiencing perinatal and neonatal loss; coordinates follow‑up care for patients and family members who have experienced perinatal or neonatal loss.

Performs other duties as assigned.

• Appointment may be subject to a suitability or fitness determination, as determined by a completed background investigation.
• This position requires the incumbent to obtain and maintain a determination of eligibility for a Secret security clearance or access for the duration of employment; a background investigation and credit check are required.
• This position has specific initial background investigation and periodic re‑verification requirements since its duties require interaction with children and youth under the age of eighteen (18) years of age on a recurring basis.
• Selectees will be required to sign a statement consenting to seasonal influenza vaccinations or provide a recognized exemption.
• This position is a Testing Designated Position subject to…