Pre-Op Assistant - Full-Time - AVALA Hospital - RH328

Summary

Maintains the Pre-Op department schedule and charts for all pain, eye and surgical patients by communicating with patients, nurses and physician offices.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Meets communication needs of patients and treats patients and their family with respect and dignity.
• Welcomes and greets all patients and visitors, in person or over the phone.
• Communicates appropriately and clearly to team leader, co-workers and physicians.
• Answers the phone while maintaining a polite, consistent phone manner using proper telephone etiquette.
• Answers questions within scope of practice. Responds to patients, prospective patients, and visitor's inquiries in a courteous manner.
• Consults other departments as appropriate to provide for an interdisciplinary approach to the patient's needs, maintains a good working relationship within the department as well as with other departments by interacting professionally with co-workers and other healthcare providers.
• Facilitates patient flow by notifying the provider of patients arrival, being aware of delays, and communicating with patients and clinical staff.
• Demonstrates knowledge of disease entities and medical terminology.                   
• Communicates ideas for improvement to the unit manager/charge nurse.
• Schedules and coordinates pre-op and radiology appointments.
• Protects patient confidentiality by making sure protected health information is secured by not leaving PHI in plain sight.
• Prepares patients chart prior to pre-op visit; completes surgical charts with required consents, orders, and diagnostic testing results prior to day of surgery.
• Operates computer software and office equipment.
• Creates both electronic and paper forms of health records.
• Obtains health records or test results from other HCP to complete chart.
• Keeps pre-op office supplies adequately stocked by anticipating inventory needs, placing orders, and monitoring office equipment.   

Core Competencies

Action Orientation - Targets and achieves results, overcomes obstacles, accepts responsibility, establishes standards and responsibilities, creates a results-oriented environment, and follows through on actions.

Communications - Communicates well both verbally and in writing. Effectively conveys and shares information and ideas with others. Listens carefully and understands various viewpoints. Presents ideas clearly and concisely and understands relevant detail in presented information.

Creativity/Innovation - Generates novel ideas and develops or improves existing and new systems that challenge the status quo, takes risks, and encourages innovation.

Critical Judgment - Possesses the ability to define issues and focus on achieving workable solutions. Consistently does the right thing by performing with reliability.

Customer Orientation - Listens to customers, builds customer confidence, increases customer satisfaction, ensures commitments are met, sets appropriate customer expectations, and responds to customer needs.

Interpersonal Skills - Effectively and productively engages with others and establishes trust, credibility, and confidence with others.

Leadership - Motivates, empowers, inspires, collaborates with, and encourages others. Builds consensus when appropriate. Focuses team members on common goals.

Teamwork - Knows when and how to attract, develop, reward, and utilize teams to optimize results. Acts to build trust, inspire enthusiasm, encourage others, and help resolve conflicts and develop consensus in creating high-performance teams.

Professional Requirements

• Meets dress code standards and adheres to dress code policy.
• Completes annual education requirements.
• Maintains regulatory requirements.       
• Maintains patient confidentiality at all times.     
• Reports to work on time and as scheduled, completes work within designated time.
• Wears identification while on duty, uses computerized punch time system correctly.
• Completes in-services and returns in a timely fashion.    
• Attends annual review, department in-services, staff meetings and/or reviews all monthly staff meeting minutes.
• Represents the organization in a positive and professional manner.
• Actively participates in performance improvement and continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities.
• Complies with all organizational policies regarding ethical business practices.
• Communicates the mission, ethics and goals of the hospital, as well as the focus statement of the department.
• Assists other staff members in performing any duty that enhances the delivery of patient care.

Advanced Orthopedic and Spine Certification Requirements

(CR.1c) As part of the Advanced Orthopedic and Spine Certification, at a minimum, the Program direct-care staff, must have one (1) hour of education specific to the Program scope, initially, and at least annually thereafter.

(CR.1e) As part of the Advanced Orthopedic and Spine Certification, staff possess adaptability to processes as related to up-to-date best practices, collaboration between departments, compliance with protocols/processes, communication, cooperation and exceptional customer service.

Within 90 days of hire or, if currently employed, within 90 days of signing the job description, must adhere to:

• Orientation of Advanced Orthopedic and Spine Certification
• In compliance with the Program education requirements
• Completed department specific competencies

Regulatory Requirements

• High school graduate or equivalent
• Minimum of six (6) months to one (1) year of related work experience

Language Skills

• Ability to communicate effectively in English, both verbally and in writing.
• Basic computer knowledge.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is very active and requires repetitive motions, standing, walking, bending, kneeling and stooping all day. The employee must frequently lift or move items weighing up to 50 pounds.