Covenant Health

Certified Nursing Assistant, Critical Care 

Full Time, 72 Hours Per Pay Period, Day shift

Fort Sanders Regional Overview:

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center is an award-winning, certified, and accredited facility with 468 beds. As a Joint Commission Comprehensive Stroke Center, Fort Sanders offers state-of-the art care that maximizes recovery from stroke.  We are also the region’s leader in technology in areas such as bariatric surgery, robotic surgery and minimally invasive spine surgery. Our door-to-balloon times for heart attack patients are below the national average, and our hip fracture center offers advanced diagnosis, surgery and recovery procedures for hip patients.

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center is a member of Covenant Health, a locally-owned, non-profit health system based in Knoxville, TN, with a “patient-focused” culture. It has been recognized by Forbes Magazine as its 2020 “Best-in-State-Employer” for Tennessee. The CEO of our company, Jim VanderSteeg, attends every new employee orientation and will ask you to sign our pledge of excellence to always put patients first, strive for excellence in everything we do, and make Covenant Health the first and best choice for patients in our region. As you’d expect, we offer our employees a robust benefits package, including: offering unmatched medical insurance, tuition reimbursement; student loan repayment assistance, certification bonuses; leadership and professional development programs; an employer-matched 401(k); and a generous Combined Time Off (CTO) program.

Department Description:

At Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, we understand that patients in our critical care area need specialized care – not only because they are very sick, but because their medical needs are unique.

In our critical care department, we have opened separate intensive care units – each designed to provide experienced nursing and support staff for each patient’s needs. (MSICU) is located on the fifth floor in the Center for Advance Medicine (CAM) building adjacent to the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center main hospital.

We are a 25-bed department comprised of a wide variety of complex medically unstable patients between Med-Surg ICU and Med-Surg Stepdown within the locked unit for the safety and privacy of our critically ill patients. We specialize and treat a wide range of severe respiratory illness (BiPAP, High-Flow, ventilator), GI Bleed (Blakemore), post-operative, general medical ICU, proning/Roto prone and renal CRRT cases etc. 

We follow a 12- hour shift, weekends/holidays on a six-week schedule. Team members utilize a self-scheduling software. In addition to having excellent critical thinking skills, our ideal candidate will also possess outstanding communication and interpersonal skills. We pride ourselves in fostering a culture of positivity and teamwork. Our team has a passion for patient care and each other.

If you are passionate about putting patients first and want to work alongside the best of the best, apply for our Medical Intensive Care Unit today!

Position Summary: 

Functions as a direct patient caregiver performing tasks to assist registered nurses. Performs hands-on care, assistance with ADL’s and specified technical tasks for a group of patients under the supervision of the Team Leader.

Recruiter: Jennifer Gordon || jgordon2@covhlth.com || 865-374-8107

• Take and record temperature, pulse, respiration rates, blood pressures, weights, heights, and intake-output measurements.
• Encourage patients to turn, cough, and take deep breaths and to use incentive spirometry as specified by Plan of Care.
• Ambulate, and assist patients in and out of bed, into wheelchairs and transport when necessary.
• Attends to nutritional needs of patient which may include distributing meal trays, feeding, filling and passing out water pitchers,
• Provides morning or evening care, which may include bed bath, oral hygiene, combing hair, back care, dressing patient, changing bed linen, cleaning over-bed table and bedside stand, straightening room, and other supportive care as needed.
• Empty drains, canisters, urine bags, bedpans and emesis basins and record intake and output.
• Assists in maintaining a safe environment, which may include reporting equipment that is out of order, appropriate handling of linen and storing of supplies.
• Provides general care such as positioning, lifting or turning patients; assisting in use of bedpan, urinal or commode; preoperative supportive care; and application/removal of abdominal binders or anti-embolism stockings and sequential compression devices.
• Empty & clean ostomy bag, per procedure.
• Collect urine, stool and sputum specimen as ordered.
• Perform tasks such as ROM, assist with ambulatory devices as specified by the patients' plan of care.
• Perform phlebotomy (requires additional training). To include correct labeling using two patient identifiers, maintenance of lab-draw supplies, rotating and restocking.
• Perform EKG (requires special training).
• Promptly answer patient call lights and respond to patient requests.
• Report significant changes in patients' condition to RN.
• Help to maintain clean and orderly patient and work environment.
• Employ all established infection control policies including standard precautions, transmission-based isolation precautions, OSHA standards, safety measures and proper body mechanics in performance of job.
• Document/maintain patient record as appropriate.
• Gathers equipment for O2 set up. Checks O2 for connection and proper placement.
• Checks for proper functioning of equipment at patient bedside
• Ambulate patients with oxygen.
• Set up suction equipment and check for proper function.
• Demonstrates knowledge and competency in providing for age-specific needs of the population served.
• Demonstrates ability to perform skills on the Nursing Assistant checklist.
• Follows policies, procedures, and safety standards. Completes required education assignments annually. Works toward achieving goals and objectives, and participates in quality improvement initiatives as requested.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Education: 

None specified; however, must be sufficient to meet the standards for achievement of the below indicated license and/or certification as required by the issuing authority.

Minimum Experience:

Hospital experience preferred. Medical terminology a plus. Must be able to operate computer and possess excellent interpersonal skills. Must be able to read with comprehension, write legibly, and perform basic arithmetic computation. Must have understanding and knowledge of patient care which may be appropriately delegated to nursing assistants.

Licensure Requirement: 

CNA Licensure from the State of Tennessee is required upon hire.  Out of State hires must have the Tennessee CNA License “in process” as reflected on the state web site upon hire. CPR required.