Job Summary
Job Description
Responsibilities
Seeking a full-time (4 day/week) sleep medicine APRN to join a highly productive and popular sleep medicine physician in northern New Hampshire to help meet increase clinical demands for services.
Provides office-based sleep services to new and established patients (above age 5; ages 2-5 with physician screening of case in advance), including management of positive airway pressure therapy, medication management, education/counseling, monitoring of medication compliance, ordering diagnostic tests (including home and attended sleep studies), ordering and authorizing durable medical equipment (DME), referral to related other specialties (e.g., cardiology, neurology, pulmonology), and communication with PCP’s.
Most commonly encountered diagnoses are:
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Obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep-related breathing disorders
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Insomnia of various types
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Hypersomnia
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Restless legs syndrome
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REM sleep behavior disorder
Partners with other members of sleep medicine team (e.g., sleep technologists, respiratory therapists, MA’s).
Infrequently provides consultation for inpatients with support from sleep medicine physician.
Especially when sleep medicine physician is not on site or is off for the day, reviews and manages requests for prescription refills (including for controlled substances, such as Ritalin and Adderall).
EMR: EMR: Meditech Expanse
FTE- 0.8
Weekly Schedule: 4 days per week.
8 am to noon and 1pm to 5 pm (8 hours of clinical time/day)
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Standard day off to be mutually determined at time of negotiation of practitioner employment agreement. Currently, Wednesday or perhaps Monday would be an option.
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Appointment durations would begin at 60 minutes (new patients) and 30 minutes (established patients) to allow for orientation to facility and its EMR. At an appropriate time, appointment durations would be reduced to match standards for sleep medicine providers, i.e., 20 minutes for established patients and 40 minutes for new patients.
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Typical productivity (based on usual mix of new and established patients) will be 12 to 16 patients per day.
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Administrative time is generally not provided at the specialty practice. However, due to the volume of DME paperwork, prescription refills and monitoring, tasks to be delegated from the sleep medicine physician to the nurse practitioner, etc., 1 hour of administrative time per day will be provided once the practitioner is working at a “full” schedule or capacity.
Locations of care:
4 days in Berlin, 2 days per month in Colebrook, 2 days per month in Glen - 40 min - 1 hour apart
Qualifications
*Preferred Candidates should have prior experience (at least 2 years) in broad spectrum of sleep medicine services.
*If not experienced in sleep medicine, prefer candidates have prior experience in primary care, pulmonology, cardiology, neurology, or related specialty.
* New graduates considered and will be trained in sleep medicine here. Selected new graduates will be considered if they possess at least 5 years of RN experience, excellent critical thinking skills, outstanding communication skills (e.g., demeanor, listening and validating, respectful/professional), and have demonstrated a high capacity and eagerness to learn.
* Eagerness to learn about sleep medicine pathophysiology and principles, interpretation of sleep medicine diagnostic tests, medications, challenges, risks, and professional rewards.
* Eagerness to/interest in counseling and educating patients and families. Whole person philosophy of care.
Training/Orientation:
Individualized education/training would be developed to fit needs of each candidate. In general, facility would devote approximately 8 weeks full-time to such process and then gradually increase clinical responsibilities and productivity in various clinical settings. In general, facility would expect most candidates to be contributing at standard productivity by 6 to 9 months from date of hire.
At least 6 weeks with sleep medicine physician to observe his practice, learn, and build relationships.
At least 2 weeks (total) with sleep technologists, respiratory therapists, sleep MA’s, and perhaps pulmonologist. A component of time with sleep technologists will be on night shift (7 pm – 7 am).
Reading materials provided by sleep medicine physician, sleep technologists, and respiratory therapists to focus one’s learning.
Mix of in-person and on-line courses as determined by facility to best meet candidate needs and most efficiently educate candidate in sleep medicine. Such courses may include, but not be limited to, the following:
A basic/comprehensive sleep medicine course, such as The Penn Sleep Center (30+ courses virtually from the University of Pennsylvania Sleep Center) or the 6-month, 48-lecture, 7-module series by the Academy of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine (Tuesdays and Thursdays 6:30-8:00 pm remotely + self-study)
Accredited Sleep Technologist Education Program (A-STEP) on-demand programs
A-STEP full course (80 hours)
American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) live courses and on-demand learning modules
SLEEP 2024 (June 1-5 in Houston) – the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Directed self study as well is expected.
Such education/training would be paid by facility (practitioner time, course registration and fees, travel).
When ready to begin to see selected patients independently, a nurse practitioner new to sleep medicine would begin to see established patients for follow up visits for a subset of common diagnoses (2-4). Then expand scope of care for other common diagnoses, and later add care for new patients.