Job Summary

Come work as a Registered Nurse in Palliative Care at Lions Gate Hospital with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH)! Apply today to speak to a Talent Acquisition Advisor. Vancouver Coastal Health is looking for a Registered Nurse to support the North Shore Hospice team at Lions Gate Hospital. Apply today to join our team!

As an RN in Palliative Care you will:

• Provide nursing care to clients working independently and as a member of an interdisciplinary care team to achieve quality symptom management, goals of care conversations and end of life care.
• Assess, consults, plans, implements, and evaluates care needs of clients who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illness in acute, hospice or community settings.
• Assess clients’ physiological, psychological, sociocultural and spiritual needs.
• Provide support to clients/families and caregivers who are facing physical, emotional and practical difficulties arising from advanced progressive life-threatening illness.
• Promote the palliative philosophy that improves the quality of life of clients and their families and relieves suffering.
• Participate on designated hospital committees/teams and approved research projects as assigned.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Current practicing registration as a Registered Nurse with the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM).
• Two (2) years’ recent, related acute medical-surgical experience or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• Palliative Care experience and completion of related coursework is an asset.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Demonstrated ability in nursing practice related to designated client group – palliative patient populations.
• Demonstrated knowledge of best practices, pathophysiology and trajectory of disorder/disease related to common diagnosis/ and specific clinical situations related to area of practice (e.g. cancer, end stage cardiac, COPD, neurological disease such as ALS or MS, chronic renal disease, end stage liver disease, metabolic disorders, or HIV/AIDS, dementia, frailty).
• Demonstrated ability to provide nursing assessments and interventions related to common diagnosis and specific clinical situations relevant to palliative patient/client group i.e. lab value monitoring, symptom management, appropriate referrals, safe medication practices, bowel care, care of body after death.
• Demonstrated knowledge of approaches and systems in place (e.g. iPace, EPAIRS, etc.)
• Demonstrated ability to perform focused secondary assessments, integrate information from a variety of sources including diagnostics, and develop plan of care relevant to the designated patient/client group.
• Demonstrated ability to anticipate and respond to potential complications and care issues relevant to the designated client group.
• Demonstrated ability in correct usage of equipment and maintains competency in working with Central venous access devices; Oxygen delivery equipment; Ostomy/wounds; chest tubes; other care related tubes, catheters, drains, suctions for patient population.
• Demonstrated ability to document client care on appropriate systems/forms in accordance with organizational and unit standards in a timely and accurate manner.
• Demonstrated skill in palliative symptom management (e.g. pain, dyspnea, nausea and vomiting, depression, constipation)
• Demonstrated skill in conducting goals of care conversations and in understanding the care goals and what is most important to the patient.
• Demonstrated skill in performing RN autonomous scope of practice and standards of care relevant to palliative patient/client group.

Closing Statement

The hours of work including days off and work area may be subject to change consistent with operational requirements and the provision of the Collective Agreement and applicable statutes. As per Ministry of Health policy, all health care workers working in publicly-funded health care facilities are required to report their past receipt of certain vaccines or history of certain infections. Collecting these records will allow for offering of any missing vaccines, and for appropriate actions to be taken in the event of any future exposure to a communicable disease or during outbreaks. For all new hires and appointments to Vancouver Coastal Health, you will be asked to provide this information as part of the onboarding process.