Responsibilities

The Clinical Nurse Navigator Primary Care functions as an integral member of the multidisciplinary ambulatory care team and provides direct, patient-facing clinical nursing care, provider support, clinical triage, patient education, and care coordination

This is an onsite position requiring regular presence in the Washington, DC area to partner closely with leadership, employees, and operational teams.

This is a primarily onsite, clinic-based position. The Clinical Nurse Navigator is embedded within the ambulatory practice and works directly with physicians, advanced practice providers, clinical support staff, and patients during scheduled clinic operations. The role balances in-person clinical responsibilities with management of assigned telephone, electronic, and clinical work queues to support timely, coordinated, and high-quality patient care.

Patient-facing clinical needs and active clinic operations are a primary responsibility of the role. The Clinical Nurse Navigator may support multiple providers, clinical teams, or designated practice areas based on patient care needs, staffing, clinic volume, and operational priorities

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Other duties may be assigned based on patient care and operational needs.

Qualifications

DIRECT CLINICAL & PATIENT-FACING CARE
• Provide direct, patient-facing nursing care within the ambulatory clinical setting in accordance with established nursing standards, organizational policies, provider-directed plans of care, and Registered Nurse scope of practice.
• Maintain an active presence within assigned clinics and work collaboratively with physicians, advanced practice providers, medical assistants, and other members of the clinical team to support efficient and safe patient care.
• Perform nursing assessments and gather pertinent clinical information, including symptoms, medical history, medication information, changes in condition, and other data necessary to support clinical decision-making.
• Identify changes in patient condition, recognize potentially urgent or emergent clinical concerns, initiate appropriate nursing interventions within scope of practice, and communicate significant findings to the appropriate provider.
• Provide clinical support during patient visits and assist physicians and advanced practice providers with patient care activities, procedures, treatments, and other clinical needs as appropriate.
• Perform clinical nursing interventions and procedures consistent with organizational policies, demonstrated competencies, and RN scope of practice.
• Support medication management activities, including medication reconciliation, review of medication instructions, assessment of medication-related concerns, and reinforcement of provider-directed medication education.
• Administer medications, injections, treatments, or other nursing interventions when ordered and when consistent with organizational policy, competency, and scope of practice.
• Provide real-time clinical education and counseling to patients and families during or following ambulatory visits.
• Obtain, review, and accurately document relevant clinical information in the electronic medical record.
• Support continuity between the patient's in-person visit and subsequent clinical follow-up, ensuring appropriate clinical issues are communicated, addressed, or routed for further action.
• Maintain infection prevention, patient safety, and clinical quality standards throughout patient encounters.

CLINICAL WORK QUEUE, TRIAGE & PATIENT COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT
• Manage assigned clinical work queues, telephone encounters, electronic patient communications, and other clinical messages in a timely and clinically appropriate manner.
• Participate in telephone and electronic clinical triage by assessing patient symptoms, concerns, and requests using established nursing protocols, clinical judgment, and RN scope of practice.
• Respond to patient clinical questions and concerns, provide appropriate nursing guidance within established protocols, and escalate concerns requiring provider review or intervention.
• Review, prioritize, address, route, and follow up on assigned clinical messages and tasks to support timely resolution of patient needs.
• Assist with medication-related requests, including refill requests, medication questions, and medication reconciliation, in accordance with established protocols and provider-directed plans of care.
• Communicate provider-directed information, recommendations, test results, treatment instructions, and follow-up plans to patients as appropriate.
• Identify urgent, complex, or unresolved clinical issues and facilitate timely escalation to the appropriate physician, advanced practice provider, clinical leader, or other member of the healthcare team.
• Ensure clinical communications and interventions are documented accurately and timely in the electronic medical record.
• Support shared clinical work queues and provide cross-coverage for designated practices, providers, or clinical teams based on staffing, patient care needs, and operational priorities.
• Balance electronic and telephone responsibilities with active clinic needs, prioritizing immediate patient-care and safety concerns during clinic operations.

Salary: $80,704 - $121,077

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education
• Associate's degree or higher in Nursing, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience consistent with organizational requirements.

Licensure
• Current and valid District of Columbia license as a Registered Nurse (RN), or evidence of application for D.C. licensure as permitted by organizational policy.
• Maintain all licenses and certifications required for assigned nursing responsibilities.

Experience
• Minimum of two (2) years of experience as a Registered Nurse.
• Ambulatory care, primary care, internal medicine, family medicine, care coordination, or other relevant clinical nursing experience preferred.
• Direct patient-care experience strongly preferred.
• Experience providing patient education, telephone or electronic clinical triage, medication management support, and care coordination preferred.
• Experience working collaboratively with physicians and advanced practice providers in an ambulatory clinical environment preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
• Strong clinical assessment, prioritization, and nursing judgment skills.
• Ability to appropriately prioritize competing in-person, telephone, and electronic patient-care needs.
• Ability to recognize changes in patient condition and appropriately escalate clinical concerns.
• Strong patient education and communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively within an interdisciplinary, team-based clinical environment.
• Ability to use electronic medical record systems and manage clinical work queues, patient communications, and clinical documentation.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills and the ability to manage multiple patient-care responsibilities in a fast-paced ambulatory environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to patient-centered care, clinical quality, patient safety, teamwork, and service excellence.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
• Ability to sit, stand, walk, reach, bend, or twist for extended periods within an ambulatory clinical setting.
• Ability to assist with patient-care activities and move, lift, carry, push, or pull equipment or other items as required by the position and organizational standards.
• Regular exposure to healthcare environments that may require the use of personal protective equipment.
• Manual dexterity necessary to operate computers, clinical equipment, keyboards, telephones, and other office or medical equipment.

PATIENT EDUCATION & ADVOCACY
• Provide individualized patient and family education regarding diagnoses, treatment plans, medications, procedures, testing, preventive care, and follow-up recommendations.
• Educate patients regarding chronic disease management, healthy lifestyle practices, preventive health measures, medication adherence, and strategies to support their established plan of care.
• Reinforce provider instructions and help ensure patients understand their treatment plan, medications, diagnostic testing, referrals, and follow-up care.
• Assess patient understanding and identify barriers that may affect successful completion of the plan of care, including health literacy, access to healthcare services, transportation, medication access, and other care coordination needs.
• Serve as a patient advocate and assist patients with navigating appropriate clinical services and healthcare resources.
• Encourage patient engagement, self-management, and shared decision-making to support improved health outcomes.

CARE COORDINATION & CLINICAL FOLLOW-UP
• Coordinate clinical follow-up associated with patient visits, including diagnostic testing, laboratory studies, provider orders, referrals, procedures, and follow-up appointments.
• Review the clinical schedule and participate in pre-visit planning to identify patient-specific clinical needs, outstanding testing, relevant medical information, care gaps, or other issues requiring attention during the upcoming visit.
• Review relevant clinical documentation, imaging, diagnostic results, and other available medical information necessary to support patient care and clinical decision-making.
• Coordinate with patients, referring providers, specialty practices, diagnostic services, and other members of the healthcare team when additional clinical information or follow-up is necessary.
• Follow up directly with patients regarding testing, procedures, treatment recommendations, and provider-directed results communication as appropriate.
• Identify patients requiring additional nursing follow-up, clinical surveillance, education, or care coordination and facilitate appropriate interventions.
• Assist patients with transitions between primary care, specialty care, diagnostic services, hospital-based services, and other healthcare settings as appropriate.
• Collaborate with physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing colleagues, clinical support staff, specialty practices, and other members of the interdisciplinary team to promote continuity of care.

CLINIC OPERATIONS & TEAM-BASED SUPPORT
• Function as an active member of the ambulatory clinical team and support day-to-day clinic operations based on patient volume, acuity, provider schedules, staffing levels, and clinical priorities.
• Provide nursing support across designated providers, practice areas, or clinical teams based on organizational need and within demonstrated competency and scope of practice.
• Provide cross-coverage for patient-facing nursing responsibilities, clinical work queues, telephone triage, electronic communications, and other clinical activities as needed.

Pay Transparency:
To encourage pay transparency, promote pay equity, and proactively address regulations, UHS and all our subsidiaries will comply with all applicable state or local laws or regulations which require employers to provide wage or salary range information to job applicants and employees. Salary offers may be based on key factors such as education and related experience.

Pay Transparency:

To encourage pay transparency, promote pay equity, and proactively address regulations, UHS and all our subsidiaries will comply with all applicable state or local laws or regulations which require employers to provide wage or salary range information to job applicants and employees. Salary offers may be based on key factors such as education and related experience.