Pre-Transplant Coordinator Liver

Pre-Transplant Coordinator

At Houston Methodist, the Pre-Transplant Coordinator position is a registered nurse responsible for participating in department initiatives, facilitating, and coordinating all aspects of the transplant referral, evaluation, waiting period, and peri-operative phases of transplantation. This position demonstrates the ability to continuously progress in skill to care for increasingly complex patients, receiving coaching from experienced Transplant Coordinators and management, benefiting from their practice. The Pre-Transplant Coordinator position interacts with all members of the interprofessional transplant team to ensure coordination of care for the pre-transplant patient. This position demonstrates clinical knowledge and competence when providing care, as appropriate, using technology, and managing emergencies, acting as a patient and family advocate to monitor and maintain patient rights. The Pre-Transplant Coordinator position communicates and collaborates with the physicians and interprofessional health care team to facilitate and maintain compassionate, efficient, quality care and achievement of desired treatment outcomes.

Job Description

• Uses therapeutic communication in an active, positive, and effective manner with all transplant team members, patients, referring physicians, and other health care providers, reporting pertinent patient care and family data in a comprehensive and unbiased manner. Accurately communicates candidate's status and evaluation outcome and maintains communication while candidate is on the waitlist.

• Identifies and responds to the clinical, psychosocial, and economic needs of the transplant patient/family/caregiver during evaluation, waiting, and pre-operative transplant phases.

• Fosters a teamwork approach in all interactions with peers and team members. Anticipates needs of other team members; proactively offering assistance. Contributes to meeting department score for employee engagement.

• Coordinates with the interprofessional team the evaluation process for potential transplant candidates, including but not limited to medical/surgical evaluation, psychosocial evaluation, educational assessment, laboratory evaluation including serologies, tissue typing, and antibodies per protocol, radiological evaluation, and nutritional evaluation.

• Establishes mutual educational goals with patients and family/caregivers regarding their responsibilities throughout the transplant process and provides education and appropriate resources regarding living donor options, Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network of Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) or National Marrow Donor Programs/Foundation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy/Center of International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (NMDP/FACT/CIBMTR) regulations, where applicable.

• Recognizes potential problems, abnormal diagnostic findings, and/or significant changes during the waiting phase, coordinating required care. Collects and evaluates medical, psychosocial, and financial data for review by the transplant team in the patient selection committee.

• Ensures patients and referring physicians are informed in writing of transplant listing, denial, or postponement. Informs and educates patients/family/caregiver at the time of listing waitlist process, transplant process, risks/benefits, including utilization of expanded donors, high-risk donors if applicable. Ensures antibody screen is obtained regularly per transplant center protocol. Maintains routine health maintenance and surveillance for malignancy during the waiting period. Identifies the need for candidate re-evaluation and initiates when appropriate.

• Participates in transplant event processes according to transplant center protocol as applicable. Contributes to meeting department and organ program targets for process and patient satisfaction measures.

• Identifies appropriate candidates upon referral and ascertains requirements for evaluation, including possible co-morbidities, absolute and relative contraindications to transplantation, communicating all findings with the transplant team. Provides and maintains comprehensive documentation of the evaluation process. Provides data to OPTN/UNOS/NMDP/CIBMTR/FACT for listing statistics.

• Maintains and updates candidate listing status per OPTN/UNOS/NMDP regulations. Provides and maintains comprehensive documentation of candidate progress while on waitlist, and donor/recipient transplant information.

• Maintains and submits accurate data for hospital-based statistics and regulatory agencies if applicable such as OPTN/UNOS/CMS/NMDP/CIBMTR/FACT, and Medicaid to ensure compliance with all government reporting requirements and proper quality outcomes monitoring. Contributes to meeting department and organ program targets for quality, compliance, and safety.

• Validates patient's insurance authorization for applicable diagnostic testing, ensuring documentation of applicable clinical activities for department charge capture and proper department financial management.

• Utilizes time between heavy workloads efficiently and helps other team members. Contributes to meeting department and organ program financial measures.

• Offers innovative solutions through participation in performance improvement projects. Contributes to department initiatives for quality and process improvement.

• Participates in transplant-specific continuous learning and growth. Applies evidence-based practice to daily work by attending CMPI, reviewing professional literature, attending professional meetings, and sharing with colleagues. Identifies own learning needs and actively seeks educational opportunities to meet those needs. Ensures own career discussions occur with appropriate management. Completes and updates the My Development Plan on an ongoing basis.

This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive; the employee will also perform other reasonably related business/job duties as assigned. Houston Methodist reserves the right to revise job duties and responsibilities as the need arises.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited School of Nursing

• Four years nursing experience or three years' Oncology/BMT-specific experience for area of specialty

• Previous transplant acute care and/or ICU experience preferred

Licenses and Certifications - Required

• RN - Registered Nurse - Texas State Licensure Compact Licensure - Must obtain permanent Texas license within 60 days (if establishing Texas residency)

• BLS - Basic Life Support (AHA)

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job, determined through ongoing skills competency assessments and performance evaluations.

• Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job, especially with regard to activities impacting patient or employee safety or security.

• Ability to effectively communicate with patients, physicians, family members, and co-workers in a manner consistent with a customer service focus and application of positive language principles.

• Strong assessment, organizational, and problem-solving skills as evidenced by capacity to prioritize multiple tasks and role components.

• Skilled at managing complex patient caseloads and ability to prioritize/triage based on patient status.

• Presents a professional image at work and all work-related events.

• Knowledgeable of OPTN/UNOS/NMDP/CIBMTR/FACT policies and listing requirements, CMS Conditions of Participation.

• Participates in department donor awareness events, educational opportunities, and community activities.

• Ability to provide assistance to physicians in perioperative settings.

• Working knowledge of Microsoft products.

Supplemental Requirements

Work Attire

• Uniform: No

• Scrubs: Yes

• Business professional: Yes

• Other (department approved): No

On-Call

Note that employees may be required to be on-call during emergencies (i.e., disaster, severe weather events) regardless of selection below.

• On Call: Yes

Travel

Travel specifications may vary by department.

• May require travel within the Houston Metropolitan area: No

• May require travel outside Houston Metropolitan area: No

Company Overview

Houston Methodist Hospital is recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 hospital in Texas and one of America's "Best Hospitals." As a full-service acute-care hospital located in the Texas Medical Center and the flagship hospital of Houston Methodist, it has evolved into one of the nation's largest nonprofit teaching hospitals and a leader in innovative medical research with a comprehensive residency program. Two of Houston Methodist's primary academic affiliates are among the nation's leading health care organizations: Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Houston Methodist also has affiliations with Texas A&M University and the University of Houston. With 948 operating beds, 85 operating rooms, and more than 8,400 employees.