Pulmonary Disease Navigator

What You Will Do

Essential Clinical Duties:

• Maintains the skills of a general respiratory care practitioner.

• Performs special procedures for assigned areas.

• Initiates development, review, and revision of care standards, guidelines and protocols.

• Educates and trains patients (and family or caregiver) in the proper use of respiratory medications and respiratory equipment, airway clearance, energy conservation, breathing exercises, smoking cessation, and all aspects of symptom management and control.

• Assesses the patient and their caregivers understanding of pulmonary disease process and provide comprehensive education as needed.

• Coaches' patients and their caregivers to assume an active role in the formation and execution of a care plan, encourage self-management, and assist in the coordination of communication between the patient, caregivers, and the physician.

Essential Administrative Duties:

• Implement ongoing and new strategies to achieve system goals for readmission, length of stay and quality measures related to pulmonary disease per system goals.

• Reports quality and productivity data of performance goals per system initiatives.

• Participates in unit/department/entity/system committees and or task forces as assigned.

• Works with physicians, nurses, and other hospital staff to coordinate the patient's care.

• Makes follow up telephone calls to patients to ensure follow through with the plan of care after discharge and encourage adherence to therapy and physician's recommendations.

• Refers patients to outpatient services when appropriate.

Additional Responsibilities

• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Complies with all policies and standards.
• For specific duties and responsibilities, refer to documentation provided by the department during orientation.
• Must abide by all requirements to safely and securely maintain Protected Health Information (PHI) for our patients. Annual training, the UH Code of Conduct and UH policies and procedures are in place to address appropriate use of PHI in the workplace.

Qualifications:
Education

• Associate's Degree In Respiratory Therapy (Required) or
• Bachelor's Degree In Respiratory Therapy (Preferred)

Work Experience

• 5+ years Of critical care experience as a Registered Respiratory Therapist (Required) and
• Experience in education, teaching in clinical areas (i.e. as a preceptor, quality improvement, etc.) (Preferred)

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Must demonstrate highly effective oral and written communication skills. (Required proficiency)
• Extremely self-motivated and creative (Required proficiency)
• Able to inspire and achieve organizational goals (Required proficiency)
• Ability to confront/resolve issues and motivate others (Required proficiency)
• Must work collaboratively with administrators, physicians, nurses and other health care providers (Required proficiency)
• Must demonstrate relationship building skills with patients and families (Required proficiency)

Licenses and Certifications

• Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) by the National Board of Respiratory Care (Required)
• Basic Life Support (BLS) (Required)
• Completion of the AARC Pulmonary Disease Educator Course within 1 Year (Required) and
• Ohio Respiratory Care Professional (RCP) Board licensure (Required)
• A member of the AARC is strongly preferred

Preferred Qualifications/Position Details

Must have at least 5 years of experience working as a Registered Respiratory Therapist. Completion of the AARC COPD Educator Course and the Pulmonary Disease Educator Course is strongly preferred. This role is used to educate patients on disease process. The navigator works with patients prior to discharge and makes post-discharge phone calls to reduce re-admissions. The schedule is (3) 12 hour day shifts, Monday-Friday.

Employees who are hired to work 35 hours or more will be awarded a $10,000 sign on bonus: $3,000 to be paid out the next applicable pay period after 90 days of employment, $7,000 to be paid out following the 1 year mark, based on performance.

Physical Demands

• Standing Frequently
• Walking Frequently
• Sitting Rarely
• Lifting Frequently 50 lbs
• Carrying Frequently 50 lbs
• Pushing Frequently 50 lbs
• Pulling Frequently 50 lbs
• Climbing Occasionally 50 lbs
• Balancing Occasionally
• Stooping Frequently
• Kneeling Frequently
• Crouching Frequently
• Crawling Occasionally
• Reaching Frequently
• Handling Frequently
• Grasping Frequently
• Feeling Constantly
• Talking Constantly
• Hearing Constantly
• Repetitive Motions Constantly
• Eye/Hand/Foot Coordination Constantly