The Advanced Practice Provider manages high-acuity patients in the neurological ICU, performing assessments, ordering diagnostics, and prescribing therapeutic interventions. They collaborate with the multidisciplinary team to ensure safe, evidence-based care and facilitate patient transitions between healthcare settings.
Requirements summary
Candidates must hold a Master's degree and possess active Tennessee licensure as a Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant. The role requires relevant clinical experience and the ability to perform complex neurological assessments in a critical care environment.
Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.
Organization
VUH
Advanced
Practice
Provider
Job
Summary: The Advanced Practice Provider (APP), NP or PA, is an integral member of the multidisciplinary healthcare team, delivering expert care in the Critical Care setting. This role involves managing high-acuity intensive care unit (ICU) patients with unstable conditions who require intensive oversight, frequent rounding, and specialized care. Patients may include those in medical and surgical ICUs with complex needs requiring advanced interventions. The Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant is responsible for managing complex conditions while ensuring delivery of safe, high-quality care. This role requires advanced medical knowledge, clinical judgment, technical proficiency, professionalism, and excellent interpersonal communication skills. The APP is also accountable for timely and compliant documentation, ongoing professional development, and competency validation. With a strong foundation of medical knowledge, the APP combines evidence-based practice with clinical expertise to meet the unique needs of critical care patients. . Position Hours Full-Time Nights 3 13 Hour Shifts Per Week Department Summary The Vanderbilt Neurological ICU is one of the largest in the country with 23 ICU beds and 12 step-down beds. Our large referral base ensures we are consistently treating a full range of neurology and neurosurgical patients. Patients travel from all over the Southeastern region of the United States to receive the specialized care that we provide. As a Comprehensive Stroke Center, we provide top level care and unique services to give our patients the best chance at recovery. Our specially trained Critical Care team is on site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, providing quick access to expert care. Using a multidisciplinary approach helps promote team learning, group dynamics, and excellent patient care.
Benefits
Health insurance
Paid time off
Tuition reimbursement
Short-term disability
Long-term disability
Adoption assistance
403(b) retirement plan
Dental plan
Vision plan
Subsidized backup childcare
Our patient care focus includes: monitoring the neurological status of our patients; detecting cues of neurological decline; early intervention; quick return to optimal health; and maintenance of ideal neurological status.
Our
ICU specializes in providing critical care to patients with: brain tumors; strokes; spinal cord injury; neuromuscular disorders; and many other diseases of the brain, peripheral nerves, and spinal cord. The neurological patient population often has extreme deficits, which require the bedside staff to have excellent neurological assessment skills - thus, our team prides themselves on their teamwork and ever-evolving skill-sets. Our excellence in patient care was recognized at a unit level in 2014, when we were awarded the AACN Beacon Award and the Professional Research Consultants, Inc Excellence in Healthcare award for Overall Quality of Care. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Obtains and documents a health history; performs and documents complete, system-focused, or symptom-specific physical examination, assessment and plan of care. In collaboration, provides healthcare services for primary, acute and complex care of patients and manages patients’ overall care, identifying expected outcomes for diagnoses. Orders, performs, interprets and collects data using appropriate assessment techniques, relevant supporting diagnostic information and diagnostic procedures where indicated. Forms differential diagnoses and treats acute and chronic conditions. Prescribes therapeutic interventions for both pharmacologic, non-pharmacologic and surgical, needed to achieve expected outcomes. Utilizes evidence-based, approved practice protocols in planning and implementing care. Initiates appropriate referrals and consultations Provides specialty specific consultation services upon request and within a specialty scope of practice. Facilitates the patient’s transition between and within health care settings, such as admitting, transferring, and discharging patients. The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned.
Technical
Capabilities
Health
Systems and
Policy
Management (Advanced): Demonstrates sufficient fundamental proficiency in behaviors that reflect a commitment to continuous professional development, ethical practice, an understanding and a responsible attitude toward their patients, their profession and society. Participates in professional organizations and activities that influence advanced practice.
Patient and
Family
Centered
Care (Advanced): Demonstrates care that is compassionate, appropriate and effective for the promotion of health, prevention of illness, treatment of disease and care at the end of life. Within scope of licensure and certification, manages previously diagnosed and undiagnosed patients. Uses health assessment skills to differentiate between normal, variations of normal, and abnormal findings. Employes screening and diagnostic strategies in the development of diagnoses. Prescribes medications within scope of practice. Manages health/illness status of patients and families over time and across the continuum. Provides patient/centered care recognizing the patient or designee as a full partner in decision making. Creates a climate of patient/centered care to include confidentiality privacy, comfort emotional support, mutual trust, and respect. Incorporates cultural and spiritual preferences, values and beliefs into health care. Preserves the patient’s control over decision making by negotiating a mutually acceptable plan of care. Integrates ethical principles into decision making. Uses electronic health record to capture data on variables for the evaluation and management of patient care. Clearly documents findings, assessment and plan of care.
Clinical
Knowledge and
Practice (Advanced): Demonstrates established and evolving biomedical, clinical and social sciences, and the application of their knowledge to patient care and the education of others. Demonstrates knowledge of population focus but also other sciences that support his/her field of practice. Demonstrates knowledge of common and important health issues affecting society and other societies around the globe. Demonstrates commitment in maintaining current evidence-based knowledge through continuous learning. Educates patients, families, students and other members of the healthcare team in clinical topics and application of clinical knowledge.
Practice-Based
Scholarly
Inquiry and
Integration (Advanced): Demonstrates the use of scientific evidence and methods to investigate, evaluate and improve patient care practices. Anticipates variations in practice and is proactive in implementing interventions to improve quality. Uses best available evidence to continuously improve quality of clinical practice. Generates knowledge from clinical practice to improve practice and patient outcomes. Reviews data and evidence to improve advanced practice. Integrates knowledge from the humanities and sciences within the context of nursing science.
Interpersonal and
Communication
Skills (Advanced): Demonstrates interpersonal and communication skills that enable them to establish and maintain professional relationships with patients, families, and other members of health care teams. Communicates practice knowledge effectively both orally and in writing.
Professionalism (Advanced): Demonstrates behaviors that reflect a commitment to continuous professional development, ethical practice, and a responsible attitude toward their patients, their profession and society. Participates in medical center committees, professional organizations and activities that influence advanced practice.
Our
Nursing
Philosophy: We believe highly skilled and specialized nursing care is essential to Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s mission of quality in patient care, education and research. We believe nursing is an applied art and science focused on helping people, families and communities reach excellent health and well-being. As a Vanderbilt University Medical Center employee, you make a difference to our patients and their families by bringing compassion and care to those in need of hope and healing.
Please see our current employee benefits offered: Affordable High Quality Health Plan Options Dental and /or vision plan 403 (b) retirement plan Paid Time off (flex PTO) Tuition Reimbursement and adoption assistance (maximums applied) Short-Long term disability Subsidized backup childcare And many more... Ask us about our current inpatient nursing supplemental Pay Program!
Achieve the
Remarkable: Learn more about VUMC Nursing here.
Core
Accountabilities:
Organizational
Impact: Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance.
Problem
Solving/
Complexity of work: Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment.
Breadth of
Knowledge: Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area.
Team
Interaction: Provides informal guidance and support to team members.
Core
Capabilities :
Supporting
Colleagues:-
Develops
Self and
Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas.-
Builds and
Maintains
Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships.-
Communicates
Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences.
Delivering
Excellent
Services:-
Serves
Others with
Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.-
Solves
Complex
Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions.-
Offers
Meaningful
Advice and
Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness.
Ensuring
High
Quality: -
Performs
Excellent
Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly.-
Ensures
Continuous
Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. -
Fulfills
Safety and
Regulatory
Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring.
Managing
Resources
Effectively: -
Demonstrates
Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.-
Stewards
Organizational
Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area.-
Makes
Data
Driven
Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities.
Fostering
Innovation:-
Generates
New
Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches.-
Applies
Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges.-
Adapts to
Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.
Education: Master's Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. EOE/Vets/Disabled. PEOPLE ARE AT THE HEART OF ALL WE DO.
Our vision: The world leader in advancing personalized health.
Our mission: personalizing the patient experience through our caring spirit and distinctive capabilities. Making Health Care Personal. We’re looking for like-minded individuals driven to make a difference. We invite you to explore careers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. At VUMC, we place a priority on designing with and for our patients and families. We value collaboration, embrace continuous learning and discovery, and seek to be a place where everyone has the chance to thrive. We’re the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee, with a growing team and expanding footprint in towns and communities across the region. We employ more than 28,000 people who work in inpatient and outpatient clinical care, research, and graduate medical education as well as critical supporting roles in administration, information technology and informatics, finance, legal and community affairs, communications and marketing, fund-raising, groundskeeping and facilities, and many more.
Our growing health system has more than 1,700 licensed hospital beds at: Vanderbilt University Hospital Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital It’s also home to hundreds of outpatient clinic and surgical locations throughout the region. We serve our community with many unique and specialized services including the Level 1 Trauma Center, a highly experienced Transplant Center that does the most heart transplants in the world, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Lung Institute, Burn Center and many more. World-leading academic departments and centers make scientific discoveries, advance clinical care and train the next generation of health care professionals. Our robust research enterprise consistently ranks among the highest in the country as measured by peer-reviewed grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. We’re honored to be consistently considered among the nation’s best hospitals, including being nationally ranked in multiple medical specialties for treating the most complex conditions in adults and children by US News and World Report. Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt ranked as the No. 1 children’s hospital in the southeast in 2024. We support each other and encourage excellence among all who are part of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at VUMC for professional growth, appreciation of benefits, and a sense of community and purpose. Join us in Making Health Care Personal.
