Company Bio
Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) is an active, acute-care community hospital located in the heart of the City of Kawartha Lakes. Among our acute and continuing care services, our team cares for 45,000 patients per year in the 24/7/365 emergency department, provides orthopedics and ophthalmology, operates a dialysis unit, and is renowned for its mental health programs and restorative seniors care. The Ross family takes pride in providing compassionate, quality patient care.
Position Summary
This is a Temporary Full-Time Clinical Scholar position within Perioperative Services. The Clinical Scholar Program provides experienced nurses with leadership and mentorship opportunities in a supernumerary role. The Clinical Scholar will mentor newly graduated nurses, nurse externs, internationally educated nurses (IENs), nurses seeking to upskill, and transition into the perioperative environment. The Clinical Scholar will support and supervise the integration of nurses into the Operating Room while promoting evidence-based practice, competency development, quality improvement, and patient safety. The incumbent reports to the Manager, Perioperative Services, with a collaborative relationship to Professional Practice and works closely with surgeons, anesthesiologists, MDRD, and interprofessional team members.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, deliver and evaluate educational programs using adult learning principles.
- Assess unit learning needs and support novice nurses in achieving competency milestones.
- Provide orientation, educational needs assessment and evaluation for new perioperative staff.
- Provide direct and indirect supervision, mentorship and coaching to all OR staff.
- Promote evidence-informed perioperative nursing care and research utilization.
- Contribute to evaluation of educational goals and learner outcomes.
- Foster positive staff interactions and a supportive learning culture.
- Support unit initiatives, quality improvement activities and practice changes.
- Act as an expert resource and role model for perioperative nursing practice.
Surgical Safety and ORNAC Responsibilities
- Champion compliance with ORNAC Standards for Perioperative Registered Nursing Practice.
- Promote adherence to the Surgical Safety Checklist including briefing, timeout and debriefing processes.
- Support competency development in scrub and circulating roles, sterile technique, counts, instrumentation and equipment management.
- Promote infection prevention and control, surgical asepsis and environmental safety.
- Support prevention of retained surgical items, wrong-site surgery and procedural errors.
- Mentor staff in patient identification, consent verification, site marking and patient advocacy.
- Support safe patient positioning, pressure injury prevention, specimen management, equipment safety and fire safety.
- Facilitate reporting and learning from patient safety events and near misses.
- Cultivate a culture where staff speak up for safety concerns.
Essential Qualifications
- RN in good standing with the College of Nurses of Ontario
- Current BCLS certification
- Perioperative Nursing Certificate or equivalent perioperative education
- Minimum three years recent frontline nursing experience in an acute care Operating Room.
- Previous experience teaching, precepting, mentoring, or working with learners and IENs
- Knowledge of ORNAC and IPAC Standards
- Demonstrated leadership, change management, and problem-solving skills
- Ability to work independently and manage competing priorities
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with interprofessional teams
- Excellent clinical, assessment, communication, and organizational skills
- Strong computer skills including Epic
- Commitment to professional development, confidentiality, occupational health and safety, infection prevention, and patient safety.
- Must be able to fulfill physical requirements of job, as per the current Physical Demands Analysis.
Preferred Qualifications
- Masters degree in Nursing, Education or related field
- Current CPN(C) certification
- RNAO and/or ORNAC membership
- Experience developing and delivering educational presentations, workshops or conferences.
- Experience leading quality improvement, patient safety or evidence-based practice initiatives.
Hours of Work
Must be able to work eight (8) hour shifts, including days, evenings and weekends. Shift hours may change according to departmental requirements and as per the ONA Collective Agreement.
Employment Equity
Ross Memorial Hospital is committed to meeting the needs of persons with disabilities. Accommodation will be provided throughout the hiring process at the request of the applicant.
Employees must meet expectations for appropriate, respectful and professional conduct, as set out in the RMH Code of Conduct.
