Nursing Assistant

Nursing Assistant In Home-Based Primary Care

The Nursing Assistant in Home-Based Primary Care provides direct patient care to Veterans in the home setting who require assistance with Activities of Daily Living (ADL)s and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL)s such as bathing, dressing, grooming, light housekeeping duties, and meal preparation. Under supervision of a Registered Nurse (RN), the Nursing Assistant is accountable for adhering to the standards of care, standards of practice and maintaining competencies with roles and responsibilities, while adhering to Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center policies and procedures. Such responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provides assistance with personal hygiene duties which include:
  • Bathing, partial bathing
  • Oral hygiene
  • Hair care
  • Shaving
  • Hand and foot care
  • Intact skin care
  • Dressing
• Assists with range of motion (ROM), ambulation, positioning and turning Veterans.
• Utilizes principles of body mechanics in Veteran lifting, equipment handling, and Veteran care related to activities.
• Applies slings and braces as needed.
• Provide simple/light meal preparation/assistance, clean up and report any nutritional concerns to the RN.
• Incumbent may be asked to provide simple/light housekeeping tasks to include dust, vacuum, sweep, straighten up, wash dishes, clean the bathroom and kitchen, do laundry, dispose of trash, change linens and making beds.
• Observes, reports, and records Veteran bowel and bladder function. Assists with bladder and bowel elimination which may include:
  • Assistance with bedpan, bedside commode, urinal, toilet
  • Application of condom catheters
  • Incontinent or involuntary care
  • Emptying urine/stool collection and colostomy bags
• May apply topical creams (not pharmacy dispensed)
• Simple dressing changes
• Performs diagnostic support duties, such as collection of specimens: stool, urine, sputum
• Serve as a responsible member of the nursing team requiring interaction with Veterans, family members, professional personnel, supportive personnel and members of other services; responding to concerns of Veterans and family in a manner that is effective and improves customer satisfaction.
• Observes and reports current observations such as Veterans' physical condition, emotional response, observes skin condition, variations in vital signs, urine, stool or sputum; personal habits of Veteran, and listens for clues to Veteran's reaction to illness and treatment, and reports observation to RN.
• Ability to recognize and react to emergent patient/resident care situations and intervene while waiting for assistance. For example, recognizing need for basic life support, controlling bleeding and assisting with behavior crisis, etc.
• Identify and report health and safety hazards in the work area and practice safe work habits. Incumbent must have the ability to recognize safety in the home that includes environmental, emotional, and spiritual aspect and be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situation, able to shift priorities based on Veteran, environmental and program needs.
• Practices universal precautions and follows blood borne pathogen and other potentially infectious material standards.
• Incumbent is required to complete and maintain VA approved Basic Life Support (BLS); initiates and performs CPR.
• Responsible for charting into designated templates of the electronic health record (EHR) for assigned Veterans daily.
• Flexibility in schedule and assignments is required, must be self-motivated in the pursuit of meeting professional work standards. Willing to work cooperatively as a member of a team or as an individual in all assignments.
• Completes mandatory reviews and in-service(s) education in a timely manner.
• Maintain skills as identified by unit specific competencies. The incumbent may be required to participate in the Interdisciplinary Team meetings (IDT).
• Maintains valid driver's license and pass the Incidental Drivers Exam given by Occupational Health. The incumbent is an incidental operator who is required to operate a government owned or leased motor vehicle to properly carry out his or her assigned duties.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 3:30 pm, No weekends, No Holidays

Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized

Telework: Not eligible for Telework

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 93436-A, 93437-A, 93438-A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized