Nurse Navigator, CVP -Structural & Congenital Heart

Our team members are the heart of what makes us better.

At Hackensack Meridian Health we help our patients live better, healthier lives — and we help one another to succeed. With a culture rooted in connection and collaboration, our employees are team members. Here, competitive benefits are just the beginning. It’s also about how we support one another and how we show up for our community.

Together, we keep getting better - advancing our mission to transform healthcare and serve as a leader of positive change. The Nurse Navigator, Structural & Congenital Heart Program, is an advocate, educator, and facilitator of care for the Structural and Congenital Heart patient and their family, throughout the continuum of care, form point of initial consultation, through preoperative preparation, admission, hospital stay, and postoperative evaluation. A day in the life of a Nurse Navigator, Structural & Congenital at Hackensack Meridian Health includes:

• Provides competent clinical care to patients during office visits.
• Provides education and educational resources to patients and their families in an effort to provide optimal procedural outcomes.
• Ensures materials, lab reports, diagnostic studies are available for APN/MD review for each patient visit and those applicable for postoperative visits, prior to the patient’s appointment.
• Able to assess data/results available for patients (CT scans, TTE, TEE, PFTs, stress tests, cardiac catheterizations), identifying issues of concern that may impact forward progression in patient’s workup, and notify the APN/MD in a timely manner when applicable.
• Assesses data and records obtained regarding patients and able to identify if a next available appointment is not sufficiently timely. Able to investigate alternative options with the APN/MD and arrange for a more appropriate, urgent schedule as needed.
• Monitors documentation in the medical record to ensure patient outcomes are achieved and maintained based on established standards of care.
• When appropriate, works with investigators and clinical research team members to identify potential patients who may be qualified for a research study/clinical trial.
• Participates in evaluation of the patient’s progress towards surgical clearance and updates the APN/MD as needed.
• Interact with office front end staff, ancillary staff, and monitors the triage of patient phone calls and concerns, ensuring pertinent, urgent, and emergent issues are brought to the attention of the APN/MD.
• Monitors results from implantable hemodynamic monitors (ie CardioMems) and consult APN/MD regarding alterations in medical therapy as it relates to these results. This will be in conjunction with the HUMC Advanced Heart Failure Program.
• Access, and respond when appropriate, to Epic inbox messages (personal Epic inbox, as well as shared inboxes from other key team members when applicable). This includes staff messages and potentially direct messages from patients.
• Facilitates the review of preadmission testing results by the APN/MD in a timely manner prior to surgery.
• Participates in patient calls to review preadmission testing results, provide preoperative education, medication instructions, and accurate documentation of all interactions.
• Maintains and updates pertinent clinical data items in the Structural and Congenital Heart Program shared Google drive, under the direction of the APNs.
• Serves as a mentor and clinical resource to ancillary staff in the outpatient setting.
• Provides exceptional customer service and practices service recovery when needed, to ensure safe, quality patient care.
• Provides postoperative phone calls to discharged patients with 48 hours of discharge from the hospital, in an effort to reduce adverse events, ER evaluations, readmissions, and ensure proper and timely postoperative follow up. Communicates any abnormal findings and concerns to the APN/MD in a timely manner.
• Participates in/attends unit, departmental, hospital meetings, committees, councils, task forces, and multidisciplinary rounds, as needed.
• Other duties and/or projects as assigned.
• Adheres to HMH Organizational competencies and standards of behavior.

Education, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required

• Graduate of a NLN/AACN accredited program in nursing.
• Proficient computer skills that may include but are not limited to Microsoft Office and/or Google Suite platforms.
• Strong organizational, time management, critical thinking RN skills.
• Ability to work independently and exercise sound judgment in interactions with physicians, APNs, patients, and their families
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.