Outreach Registered Nurse

POSITION OVERVIEW

Person will provide comprehensive nursing care to clients in the community, primarily in street-based or mobile settings and provides medical expertise to the clinical service delivery of the outreach team.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

- Engage clients in outdoor and public areas to develop rapport, monitor for safety and health needs, connect clients to services, and support community members.

- Earn and maintain clients’ trust through consistency, integrity, honesty, managing expectations, unconditional positive regard, and persistent follow-up; impart this approach throughout the team through role modeling, coaching, and close consultation.

- Continuously seek new insights, options, and approaches to reach hard-to-engage clients with the philosophy that we never give up on anyone.

- De-escalate crisis situations, help clients plan for and prevent crises, and seek assistance as appropriate.

- Throughout the engagement process and upon enrollment, develop a comprehensive health history and needs assessment to understand clients’ priority needs.

- Develop comprehensive health history inclusive of psychiatric, addictions, medical and social needs.

- Evaluate and treat persons with complex social needs, addictions (such as opioid use disorder and polysubstance use disorder), serious mental illness, infectious disease (e.g. Hepatitis C, HIV, wounds related to drug use).

- Implement time-limited interventions to improve outcomes related to chronic health conditions (COPD, diabetes, heart disease).

- Formulate diagnostic impressions, implement clinical interventions within scope of practice, refer and coordinate care with external providers as needed, and collaborate with the outreach team on an overall plan of care.

- Provide, develop/design, direct, and/or implement interventions to address client health needs.

- Provide medical expertise to the team.

- Provide medication education, monitor medication responses, and assist and/or administer medications within scope of practice.

- Recommend, monitor and evaluate uses of medications in collaboration with prescribers.

- Assess, plan and implement wound care. Direct LPN(s) or others to assist with wound care within their scope of practice.

- Develop and implement interventions for communicable disease prevention and response, particularly sexually transmitted diseases, including but not limited to HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis A and C, and Syphilis.

- Monitor chronic medical conditions that are managed by a primary health care provider and reinforce instruction or coordinate with the primary health care provider.

- Evaluate acute health problems of clients to determine the most appropriate health care provider and make referrals.

- Maintain up-to-date client records; monitor and document client status and progress.

- Completes all forms requiring the attention of a clinician within RN scope of practice, for example, certification of disability and reasonable accommodations, insurance-related authorizations, vocational rehabilitation, social services documentation.

- Provide emergency services or on-call support as needed, for example during a public health emergency or severe weather emergency.

- Educate and support clients and their families in regards to: harm reduction, nutrition, medication, addictions, common mental health and chronic medical conditions, and health maintenance and preventative care.

- Provide training to staff and clients in communicable disease prevention; recommend, develop, and implement prevention interventions such as testing and vaccine programs.

- Participate in in-service training.

- Participate in the planning, orientation and supervision or precepting of nursing students.

- Coordinate client medical care and population health interventions within the outreach team and through collaborations with other social and community agencies.

- Participate in related meetings, client care conferences, clinical programs, and workgroups.

- Initiate professional development and clinical consultation to improve clinical insights and methods regarding medical needs of the unhoused population.

- Revise standards of practice to meet the changing needs of the clients as required.

- Other duties as assigned.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

Client evaluation, assessment and ongoing treatment.

Client well being (clinically and physically).

Clinical collaboration and overall excellence of outreach team

EDUCATION, WORK EXPERIENCE AND JOB REQUIREMENTS

Education: Minimum of Registered Nurse license with five years’ experience, preferably with experience in mobile healthcare, emergency medicine or similar setting. Master’s preferred.

Skill Requirement: One to six months OJT required for efficient job performance.

Job Requirements: Excellent communication, problem solving and organizational skills.

Licensed as Registered Nurse in the State of Maryland. Must have a valid driver’s license.

Must have a clean driving record. Must have the ability to work independently with minimum supervision

COMMENTS

Must exhibit experience, familiarity and sensitivity to working with persons who are actively using drugs and persons with serious mental illness including psychosis.