Public Health Nurse - Nurse Family Partnership

Public Health Nurse

Are you interested in making a difference? If so, please consider joining our dedicated team at the Department of Health & Human Services! Job Highlights:

• Home visiting
• Care Coordination
• Case Management for pregnant and parenting families

Work Location: This position is located at 908 7th St, Eureka, CA

Work Hours: A typical work schedule for this position is Mon-Fri, 8am - 5pm

Please note:

• This position is represented by the AFSCME bargaining unit.
• This is a continuous recruitment. Human Resources reserves the right to close this recruitment at any time. Applications will be collected and forwarded to the department on a weekly basis.

Under general supervision, provides the full range of public health nursing services including health assessments, case management, counseling services, and education to high risk and special populations for the prevention and mitigation of diseases and adverse health conditions; identifies and provides intervention services for high risk behaviors; investigates and provides resources to aid in the development and maintenance of good healthy lifestyles; and performs related duties as assigned.

Receives general supervision or direction from a Supervising Public Health Nurse or other assigned supervisory or management personnel. May exercise technical and functional direction over and provide training to lower-level staff. Exercises no direct supervision over staff.

Public Health Nurse: This is the journey level class in the public health nursing series. Incumbents independently perform a full range of public health nursing duties including preventive medicine, health education, case management, community outreach, and program implementation. Work involves assessing client health needs, developing and executing care plans, providing direct nursing services, collaborating with community partners, and maintaining accurate health records. Incumbents exercise considerable judgement and initiative in planning and organizing work, adapting to varied situations, and resolving routine problems independently. Work is performed under general supervision with guidance provided for unusual or complex cases. This class is distinguished from the Senior Public Health Nurse in that the latter is the advanced journey level class responsible for performing the most complex duties assigned to the series, including, but not limited to, coordinating and implementing a specialized health nursing program or service.

Management reserves the right to add, modify, change, or rescind the work assignment of different positions.

• Performs a variety of nursing and coordinative duties in the provision of public health services to special populations and high risk, high acuity patients and their families to enhance the health and safety of the community; to treat and prevent the spread of communicable diseases; addresses prenatal, child, and adolescent health care concerns; identifies and prevents child and elder abuse and neglect; and provides resources for healthy living choices for the populations served.
• Conducts physical assessments, dispenses pharmaceuticals, performs diagnostic testing, reviews and interprets laboratory findings, and provides treatment and intervention pursuant to standardized procedures and protocols in a clinical setting as well as in the field.
• Performs in-home visits to assess the physical and behavioral health of patients and their families; identifies behaviors and lifestyle choices that place patients at risk for disease or adverse health conditions.
• Provides case management services to patients to aid in the development and maintenance of healthy living choices; sources private, public, and community health and social services agencies for the provision of services based on patient needs and acuity such as prenatal and postpartum care, addiction recovery, and communicable disease treatment and prevention; works with patients who have co-existing conditions which require the coordination of care from multiple service providers.
• Follows up on treatment recommendations with patients and other involved agencies to ensure effective care and to provide guidance to patients and their families.
• Provides counseling and guidance to patients who have contracted a communicable disease; records communicable disease occurrences as required by state and County laws and regulations; explains doctor instructions and recommendations to patients and their families; instructs patients and their families in isolation and preventive techniques.
• Develops comprehensive nursing care plans; acts as a patient liaison and advocate to medical and other community resources.
• Provides preventive healthcare such as well-patient clinics, vaccinations, and prenatal and postpartum nursing care; performs selected diagnostic tests using standardized procedures; gives prescribed treatments; assists physicians in outpatient clinics; acts as telephone advice nurse.
• Provides family planning and prenatal guidance to patients throughout pregnancy; continues postpartum visits to offer guidance and referrals for health, safety, parenting, socio-economic, and environmental related issues.
• Reviews and evaluates and prioritizes incoming communicable disease reporting data and additional information on cases of infectious diseases to determine the health risks of patients and the community; may investigate the most difficult and sensitive communicable disease cases; assists in the development of methods to prevent, control and treat communicable diseases.
• Works with other providers and community partners to coordinate care for individuals or groups with infectious diseases.
• Develops and conducts educational and outreach activities for community, professional, and educational groups on selected public health concerns, best practices, and early detection and prevention techniques.
• Evaluates and addresses the health needs of special population groups including the elderly, recent immigrants, those choosing alternate lifestyles, and other cultural and socioeconomic groups.
• Serves on interdisciplinary committees and task forces as a public health advisor and subject matter expert; acts as a public health consultant to community groups and participates on a variety of health planning and educational committees.
• Maintains patient charts and other records.
• Receives and responds appropriately to patient/client complaints and concerns.
• Prepares a variety of periodic and special reports.
• Performs related duties as assigned. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge and ability required.

• Operations and services of comprehensive public health nursing programs.
• Principles, practices, and current trends of public health nursing, including population-based nursing practices in high risk and high acuity populations.
• Applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and ordinances including the California Nursing Practice Act.
• Demographic, biostatistical, and data collection methods utilized in evaluating public health needs and problems.
• Major health concerns and risk factors of the populations served.
• Principles and practices of public health case management and coordinative care.
• Principles, practices, and techniques used to assess the physical, behavioral, and developmental health of children and adults.
• Principles and practices of prenatal and postpartum healthcare.
• Methods and techniques of conducting interviews to extract information relevant to patients' health.
• Detection, prevention, intervention, and reporting requirements for family violence, including child, spouse, and elder abuse and neglect.
• Safe medication practices.
• Common medical terminologies.
• Community health resources and government funded public health program offerings.
• Principles, practices, and techniques of developing and delivering public health education and outreach in a variety of formats.
• Pathophysiology of the major causes of illness and disease.
• The role of proper nutrition in developing and maintaining good health in children, adults, and the elderly.
• Community resources for the provision of public health services, including social services and financial support resources.
• Techniques for providing a high level of customer service by effectively dealing with the public, vendors, contractors, and County staff.
• The structure and content of the English language, including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Modern equipment and communication tools used for business functions and program, project, and task coordination, including computers and software programs relevant to work performed.

Ability to:

• Manage and prioritize the provision of public health nursing intervention to individuals, families, communities, and at-risk populations.
• Provide specialized healthcare case management to diverse pediatric and adult populations with varying levels of acuity.
• Identify risk factors for disease and other adverse health conditions and develop comprehensive health plans for mitigation and prevention.
• Perform focused physical assessments, apply selected diagnostic screening, and develop effective interventions.
• Apply the principles of epidemiology to a broad range of social, health, and wellness concerns.
• Identify community health needs through analysis of epidemiological data and information.
• Coordinate services across a broad range of disciplinary practices for patients with multiple risk factors for adverse health conditions.
• Manage a caseload and establish priorities for case management, treatment and referral.
• Perform nursing assessments and selected diagnostic tests and give