Nurse Practitioner - 2+ Years of Experience Strongly Preferred

Nurse Practitioner

The Nurse Practitioner provides comprehensive primary health care, including emergency treatment, patient counseling, education, and referral, as necessary to ancillary and support services.

Work is essentially independent. Receives medical consultation and/or direction from the Health Center Chief Clinical Officer and/or other physician. The Nurse Practitioner is directly accountable to the DSHC Chief Clinical Officer.

Assists in the supervision of clinical Health Center Lab Technician/Aid, RN, LPN, and other clinical staff as appropriate.

Provides comprehensive primary care through diagnosis, clinical judgment, and management to restore, maintain, and improve health status in accordance with practice policies. This includes:

• Assessment of patient, emotional development status of individual and family.
• Analysis of health behavior related to personality, life style, and culture.
• Prescriptive treatment for health problems defined by the Nurse Practice Act.
• Counseling and client advocacy.
• Performs assessment of the environmental status of the community and its impact on health.
• Provides health education to patients, clinical support staff (CSS), and community organizations, including preventive/corrective counseling for noted unhealthy behaviors.
• Awareness/acceptance of cultural competency aspect and sensitivity.
• In coordination with other Health Center staff, develops, and conducts bi-annual review and revisions of the written clinical protocols governing the healthcare services that the Health Center provides.
• Works in collaboration and/or coordination with other health care providers within the Health Center team and/or community agencies to provide comprehensive patient care, in accordance with the written Health Center policies.
• Assists in maintaining the quality of care in accordance with the continuous quality improvement (CQI) plan.
• Participates in program and service delivery planning, implementation, and evaluation, relating to health care services and Health Center functions.
• Participates in professional and related community organizational meetings and activities.
• Participates in continuing education program designed by the Nurse Practitioner.
• Participates in staff meetings, conferences and in-service training, continuing education for Health Center staff members.
• Assures adequate patient health records are maintained and transferred as required when patients are referred.
• Responsible for learning and using the DSHC electronic health records (EHR) system following health center policies.
• Responsible for following and supporting HIPAA, OSHA, and corporate compliance policies and regulations.
• Familiarity/adoption of Meaningful Use (MU) criteria, completing accurate charting, data collection, orders/tracking/flowsheet/template documentation, and adoption of the PCMH model of care, including standard elements and factors.
• Participates as required in on-call coverage of after-hours health care services.
• Follows and implements fiscal year health care plan objectives.
• Knowledge/oversight of Health Center operations, including crash cart, pharmaceuticals, lab and x-ray.
• Participates in clinical nursing research and application of research to nursing practice.
• Maintains strict confidence on information gained in the clinical practice of the position.
• Works closely with the EMTs in emergencies, using ACLS guidelines, when cases are presented to the Health Center by the EMTs or instances when EMTs have been called by the Nurse Practitioner.
• Participates in the prescription drug control policies and prescribes according to state rules and regulations.
• Merit increases will be based on random monthly or quarterly outcome reviews to evaluate productivity, and patient satisfaction. Ability to meet PCMH standards/MU criteria and outstanding performance over and above the job description.
• Performs all other duties as assigned. Ability and transportation to rotate between three (3) health center locations as scheduled.
• The employee knows DSHC's 5 core values and demonstrates the specific valued behaviors on a daily basis.

Minimum Qualifications:

• MSN degree from accredited Nurse Practitioner Program.
• Completion of a formal family nurse practitioner program or documented evidence of course works to provide care to clients of all age groups.
• License to practice professional nursing plus qualifications to receive nurse practitioner certification in the state of Idaho.
• Willingness to work within the framework of a Public Health Service health center project, including goals and objective defined in the grant application.
• Sensitivity to the local customs related to health practices and medical care. Sensitivity to the needs of the farm worker families and other rural individuals.

Desert Sage Health Centers | Equal Opportunity Employer