RN​/LPN TRMCC

Work Unit Overview

A Registered Nurse (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) provides nursing and nursing‑related services to residents consistent with each resident's comprehensive assessment and plan of care. All resident care is delivered in a manner that meets the resident's physical, mental, and psychosocial needs and enables the individual to attain or maintain the highest practicable level of functioning. The RN/LPN provides supervision of health‑care personnel to maintain a homelike environment, protect and promote resident rights, and assist residents to maintain independence to the greatest extent possible.

The RN or LPN assesses patient health problems and needs, develops and implements nursing care plans, and maintains medical records. Duties include administering nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients, advising patients on health maintenance and disease prevention, and providing case management. An RN/LPN oversees the work of other health‑care personnel as required.

• Direct or supervise nursing assistants, aides, or other health‑care personnel to ensure proper performance of duties according to health‑care standards and departmental policies, and may supervise a particular unit.
• Consult and coordinate with healthcare team members to assess, plan, implement, or evaluate patient care plans and modify treatment plans based on patient responses and conditions.
• Order, interpret, and evaluate diagnostic tests, monitor all aspects of patient care including diet and physical activity, and maintain detailed reports and records of patient medical information and vital signs.
• Administer prescribed medications or initiate intravenous fluids, record times and amounts, take temperature, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure readings, and transcribe physicians’ orders into medication and treatment records.
• Observe patients, chart and report changes in conditions, and take any necessary actions.
• Provide basic patient care such as taking temperatures, dressing wounds, treating bedsores, giving enemas or douches, massaging, and performing catheterizations; sterilize equipment using germicides or an autoclave.
• Assist physicians or other RNs in examinations or special procedures, including catheterization, bathing, feeding, turning, transporting patients, applying and changing dressings, and providing orthopedic care such as casts and traction.
• Answer patients’ calls and determine how to assist them.
• Measure and record vital signs including height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration.
• Collect samples such as blood, urine, or sputum and perform laboratory tests.
• Communicate with other health‑care facilities or ancillary services regarding patient care needs, and assist with administering examinations, tests, or treatments and explaining procedures.
• Assemble and use equipment such as catheters, tracheotomy tubes, or oxygen suppliers.
• Assist in maternal/child, medical‑surgical, outpatient, public health, or mental health outreach settings.
• Comply with department, unit, and hospital policies, procedures, quality‑assurance, safety, supply inventory, environmental and infection‑control regulations.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

• Graduate from an accredited nursing school with a four‑year degree (preferred for RN positions).
• One to two years of experience in an acute‑care unit.
• Valid Montana license as an RN or LPN.
• Current CPR certification.
• Good citizen court record with no history of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment of individuals in health‑care settings.
• Background check clearance.
• Knowledge of nursing theory, hospital rules and regulations, medical terminology, nursing equipment, patient rights, confidentiality requirements, communicable disease and infection‑control practices, emergency care, and handling of narcotics and mental‑health patients.
• Ability to perform physical assessments; take health histories; interpret lab results; provide primary nursing care; detect suicidal behavior; follow oral and written nursing directions; maintain patient rights and confidentiality; coordinate with multidisciplinary teams.

Persons who have been found guilty by a court of law of abusing, neglecting, or mistreating individuals in a health‑care setting are ineligible for employment. Applicants must pass a background check and maintain a clean record in accordance with state regulations.