U

University of Southern California

Research university in Los Angeles, CA

RN Clinical - Cardiac, Surgery

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/23/2026
$47.31 - $100/hr+ $7/hour cardiac differential
Junior
Bachelor's
Los Angeles, CA, USA
In Person
Medical, Clinical & VeterinaryNursing & Frontline Patient Care

About the job

Requirements
  • A Bachelor's degree in Nursing is required.
  • One year of recent experience as a surgical cardiac registered nurse in an acute-care inpatient hospital setting is required.
  • Excellent communication skills, including the ability to speak, read, and write English proficiently, are required.
  • Knowledge of medical procedures and conditions, and the ability to understand, follow, and successfully perform duties—including whole blood collection and apheresis procedures—in accordance with administrative and clinical policies, regulations, and procedures, are required.
  • A Registered Nurse license from the California Board of Registered Nursing is required.
  • Basic Life Support Healthcare Provider certification from the American Heart Association is required.
  • Fire Life Safety Training from the City of Los Angeles is required; if the applicant does not have a card upon hire, it must be obtained within 30 days of hire and maintained through renewal before expiration. This requirement applies within the City of Los Angeles only.
  • Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Healthcare Provider certification from the American Heart Association is required.
Responsibilities
  • Use the nursing process to provide therapeutic patient care and coordinate care and education for patients and families in accordance with applicable standards, policies, and practices.
  • Follow policies and procedures and demonstrate the ability to access online manuals.
  • Apply scientific knowledge in practical nursing-process work.
  • Complete nursing assessments at admission, each shift, and when a patient's condition changes; complete patient acuity assessments by 0200/1400 daily.
  • Interpret assessment information and formulate nursing diagnoses.
  • Develop individualized plans of care, document expected and projected outcomes, and review, revise, and update plans daily based on evaluation of patient outcomes.
  • Administer medications and intravenous therapy at prescribed intervals, complete procedures according to policy and schedule, and delegate tasks according to others' scope of practice and competency.
  • Act as a patient advocate and manage restraint use according to policy, attempting alternatives first; ensure required physician orders and assessments, patient monitoring, and completion of the restraint audit form each shift.
  • Complete and correct required flow sheets and chart forms, including admission and pain assessments, daily, restraint, diabetes, and educational flow sheets, Kardex, care plans, fall-risk assessments and reassessments, medication administration records, equipment and supplies forms, transfer forms, and belongings tracking forms; ensure orders are transcribed and signed off before the end of the shift and complete 12-hour/24-hour chart checks.
  • Provide patient and family education and room or unit orientation; explain the plan of care, identify knowledge deficits related to diagnoses and care, and use and provide Micromedex information.
  • Collaborate with case managers and/or physicians on discharge planning, complete transfer paperwork, and ensure patient belongings accompany the patient.
  • Use patient-care equipment safely and appropriately according to manufacturer guidelines, including intravenous, feeding, patient-controlled analgesia, and epidural pumps; sequential compression devices; wound vacuum systems; and heating pads or pumps.
  • Communicate with healthcare-team members, patients, and families through shift reports, physician rounds, patient/family interactions, multidisciplinary rounds, handoffs, facility email, and interactions with students and employees.
  • Manage time, organize and prioritize responsibilities, take meal breaks without incurring overtime, and complete shifts on time.
  • Observe regulatory-agency requirements, including National Patient Safety Goals, patient identifiers, approved abbreviations, Universal Protocol and procedural time-outs, handoffs, medication reconciliation, clinical alarms, hazardous-waste and biohazard procedures, medication and sharps safety, HIPAA, OSHA requirements, and continuous Joint Commission survey readiness.
  • Manage medical-surgical patients, including patients with total hip arthroplasty, total knee arthroplasty, and spinal surgery; maintain isolation precautions and respiratory and nutrition care for cystic fibrosis patients; manage medications and protective isolation for abdominal-organ transplant patients; and institute safety precautions and skin care for patients with hepatic encephalopathy.
  • Manage complex critically ill intensive-care patients, including neurosurgical, thoracic, gastric-bypass, orthopedic, liver/kidney/pancreas transplant, hepatobiliary, open-heart, and heart/lung transplant patients; manage advanced modalities including hemodynamic monitoring, continuous renal replacement therapy, continuous venovenous hemodialysis, ventriculostomy and intracranial-pressure monitoring, ventricular assist devices, and balloon pumps.
  • Manage high-acuity stepdown and telemetry patients requiring specialized monitoring and care, including patients recovering from cardiac, lung, liver, and kidney transplants; orthopedic, hepatobiliary, general, thoracic, gastric-bypass, neurologic, and neurosurgical procedures; and advanced modalities including ventilator care, arterial and central venous pressure lines, ventricular assist devices, and lumbar drains.
  • Initiate, perform, and terminate dialysis treatments according to policy and standards of care; review orders and laboratory results before treatment; inform patients of treatment plans; complete treatment-record documentation; perform pre-treatment safety checks and machine maintenance; verify dialysis orders before bringing equipment to a unit; contact physicians early when treatment orders are missing; and complete medical-surgical dialysis treatments on 3S when more than two patients are scheduled.
  • Engage psychiatric patients therapeutically, maintain a therapeutic milieu, assess and monitor safety, check for contraband at admission and as needed, initiate and participate in treatment planning, monitor locked doors, log visitors and assess for contraband, track patients' legal status each shift, communicate with the Department of Mental Health and other agencies as required, administer psychotropic medications only with proper consent and documentation, and submit the Firearms Reporting Form.
  • Use de-escalation to prevent behavioral restraint or seclusion when possible; apply restraint or seclusion when appropriate; continuously monitor patient safety or delegate monitoring appropriately; ensure physician assessment within one hour of application and at least every eight hours thereafter; obtain physician orders; notify the manager of behavioral-restraint incidents; contact significant others as permitted; and conduct post-incident debriefing with the patient when appropriate.
  • Identify patients who meet core-measure criteria, complete core-measure documentation, and participate in data collection and process improvements related to nurse-sensitive quality indicators.
  • Participate in professional hospital and nursing activities, including relief charge nurse duties, nursing committees and councils, hospital teams, unit-based projects, research, and publication of peer-reviewed articles.
  • Perform other related duties as assigned.
Desired Qualifications
  • Intensive-care and/or telemetry experience is preferred.
  • Certified Perioperative Registered Nurse (CNOR) certification from AORN is preferred.

About the company

U

University of Southern California

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The University of Southern California is a private research university with academic programs across the arts, sciences, business, engineering, law, health, and other professional fields.

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