U

University of Southern California

Research university in Los Angeles, CA

Registered Nurse Clinical - 5 W ICU

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/23/2026
$45.76 - $98.80/hr
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 (BSN) is required; nurses hired before December 2019 are grandfathered from this requirement.
  • At least one year of acute inpatient hospital experience as a registered nurse 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 perform duties, including whole blood collection and apheresis procedures, in accordance with administrative and clinical policies, regulations, and procedures are required.
  • The candidate must demonstrate the ability to work independently with minimal direction and supervision.
  • An active 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.
  • Los Angeles City Fire Life Safety Training is required; if the candidate 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 Los Angeles City only.
  • Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Healthcare Provider certification from the American Heart Association is required for Intensive Care, Step-down, and Telemetry departments. Registered nurses without prior telemetry or critical-care experience must obtain it within 180 days or by the end of orientation, whichever is sooner.
Responsibilities
  • Use the nursing process to provide therapeutic care to patients and coordinate patient 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 learned scientific knowledge in the nursing process.
  • Complete nursing assessments upon patient admission, each shift, and when a patient’s condition changes; complete patient acuity assessments by 0200 or 1400 daily.
  • Interpret assessment information and formulate nursing diagnoses.
  • Develop individualized plans of care, document expected and projected patient outcomes, and review, revise, and update plans daily based on evaluation of outcomes.
  • Administer medications and intravenous therapy appropriately and at prescribed intervals; complete patient care procedures correctly according to policy and schedule.
  • Delegate tasks according to others’ scope of practice and competency, advocate for patients, and manage restraint use according to policy, attempting alternatives first.
  • Ensure required physician orders and assessments, patient monitoring, and completion of restraint audit forms each shift.
  • Complete and correct required documentation, including admission assessments; pain assessments and reassessments; daily, restraint, diabetes, and educational flow sheets; Kardex; care plans; risk assessments and reassessments; fall, medication administration, equipment and supplies, transfer, and belongings forms. Transcribe and sign off orders before the end of the shift and complete 12- and 24-hour chart checks.
  • Provide patient and family education, orient them to the room and unit and the plan of care, identify knowledge deficits related to diagnoses and care, and provide Micromedex information.
  • Collaborate with case managers and physicians on discharge planning, complete transfer paperwork, and ensure patients’ belongings are sent with them.
  • Use patient-care equipment safely and appropriately according to manufacturer guidelines, including intravenous, feeding, patient-controlled analgesia, and epidural pumps; sequential compression devices; wound-vac systems; and heating pads or pumps.
  • Communicate with the healthcare team, patients, and families through shift reports, physician rounds, patient and family interactions, multidisciplinary rounds, handoffs, facility email, and communication with students and new, contract, or other employees.
  • Organize and prioritize responsibilities, manage time effectively, take meal breaks without incurring overtime, and complete shifts on time.
  • Observe regulatory and safety requirements, including National Patient Safety Goals, patient identification, approved abbreviations, universal protocol and procedural time-outs, handoffs, medication reconciliation, clinical alarms, hazardous and biohazard waste management, medication and sharps safety, HIPAA, OSHA requirements, and continuous Joint Commission survey readiness.
  • Communicate critical values using write-down, read-back, and follow-up procedures; ensure telephone orders are appropriate, documented, signed, timed, dated, stamped, and entered into the unit log.
  • Maintain a safe work environment through proper body mechanics, electrical safety, infection-control procedures, and hand washing.
  • Manage medical-surgical patients, including patients with total hip arthroplasty, total knee arthroplasty, and spinal surgery; provide isolation precautions and respiratory and nutrition care for cystic fibrosis patients; manage medications and protective isolation for abdominal organ transplant patients; and implement safety precautions and skin care for patients with hepatic encephalopathy.
  • Manage complex, critically ill intensive-care patients, including neurosurgery, thoracic foregut, gastric bypass, orthopedic, liver, kidney and pancreas transplant, hepatobiliary, open-heart, heart-transplant, and lung-transplant patients; manage advanced therapeutic modalities including hemodynamic monitoring, continuous renal replacement therapy, continuous venovenous hemodialysis, ventriculostomy, intracranial pressure monitoring, ventricular assist devices, and balloon pumps.
  • Manage high-acuity step-down and telemetry patients requiring specialized monitoring and care, including patients following open-heart surgery, heart or lung transplants, liver or kidney transplants, orthopedic, hepatobiliary, general, thoracic foregut, gastric bypass, neurology, or neurosurgery procedures; manage ventilators, 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, inform patients of treatment plans, complete dialysis records, perform pre-treatment safety checks and machine maintenance, check dialysis orders before bringing equipment to units, contact physicians early when treatment orders are missing, and complete medical-surgical dialysis treatments on 3S when more than two such patients are scheduled.
  • Engage psychiatric patients in therapeutic interactions and maintain a therapeutic milieu; assess and monitor safety, including contraband checks at admission, shift changes, and as needed; initiate and participate in treatment planning; monitor locked unit doors; log visitors and assess for contraband; monitor and communicate patients’ legal status each shift with the Department of Mental Health and other agencies; administer psychotropic medication only with proper consent and documentation; and submit firearm reporting forms.
  • Use de-escalation to prevent behavioral restraint or seclusion when possible; apply restraint or seclusion when appropriate; continuously monitor patients or delegate monitoring; ensure physician assessment within one hour of application and at least every eight hours thereafter; obtain physician orders; notify the manager of incidents; contact significant others as permitted; and debrief with the patient when appropriate after an incident.
  • Accurately 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, and research or peer-reviewed publication.
  • Perform other related duties as assigned.
Desired Qualifications
  • Previous experience in surgical units, intensive care, and telemetry is preferred.
  • Specialty certification 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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