Description

POSITION SUMMARY

• The Nurse Practitioner works within and as part of a multidisciplinary team to perform initial psychiatric evaluations and medication management to a diverse population, including children. Responsibilities include providing psychiatric evaluation and ongoing psychiatric care of patients by performing mental status examination, diagnostic assessments, supportive therapy, and psycho-pharmacological management. The Nurse Practitioner provides care and treatment to patients; has professional responsibility for diagnosis, determination of treatment methods, leadership in the implementation of treatment plans, and discharge planning; prescribes medication with collaboration of supervising physician; manages prescriptions, administration of medications; and, provides patient/family counseling and education. The Nurse Practitioner must honor the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Nurse Practitioner’s guidelines and ethical commitment. All communication to include privacy and security of patient protected health information must be exercised at all times. The employee must perform all other duties as assigned.

Requirements

DUTIES & ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS
While living and demonstrating our Core Values, the Nurse Practitioner - Psychiatric will:

Clinical Responsibilities:

• Assess mental health needs for children and/or adults.
• Diagnose mental health/psychiatric conditions and develop/execute treatment plans.
• Perform and document comprehensive care and psychosocial health histories and examinations on patients.
• Gather, interpret and integrate data to determine appropriate patient treatment plans. 
• Order and interpret diagnostic studies related to the patient’s plan of care and response to treatment. 
• Provide follow-up care on an inpatient and out-patient basis.
• Collaborate with the behavioral health team.
• Interview and advise patients regarding health and illness prevention, and recommend resources to meet patient and family needs. 
• Instruct patients and families regarding medications and treatment instructions.
• Identify treatment-related toxicities and initiates medical interventions.
• Evaluate patient intervention outcomes and demonstrates expertise in symptom-management. 
• Monitor and adjust patient medications and treatments according to best standard protocols. 
• Manage telephone calls related to emergency situations, symptom management and psychosocial and family concerns. 
• Provide continuity of care across all levels of psychiatric care. 
• Provide psychosocial counseling and support to patients and families and makes community referrals as necessary. 
• Document medical records regarding all patient encounters in the office and on the telephone while staying compliant and up-to-date with the EMR process.
• Understand and adhere to “incident-to” and “non-incident-to” service and billing guidelines using proper procedures based on service conditions at the time. 
• Exercise HIPAA confidentiality and security measures at all times during office hours and outside of the office.
• Participate in quality improvement reviews and activities in the clinical setting.
• Serve as a psychiatric clinical resource for staff, clients and families. 
• Practice as an outpatient provider with 36 hours of patient care (72 half hour slots per week, or the equivalent/for example, a one-hour initial patient appointment = 2 slots) and 4 hours administrative time per week. Must be present (40) forty hours per week, which includes administrative time. May be required to work evening hours due to hours of operations and patient schedules.
• Participate in call schedule for psychiatric services as needed with the potential for one call per weekday and one weekend call per month (Friday 5pm to Monday at 8 am).
• Work at the Mid Valley Practice as assigned location and at other WCPC sites as necessary.
• Work at least one holiday as assigned.
• Perform other duties as assigned consistent with experience and training of the CRNP.

Educational Responsibilities:

• Provide information related to disease, treatment, health promotion, and disease prevention to patients and families. 
• Educate professional staff through consultations and presentations. 
• Evaluate patient, nursing, and community educational programs and materials and act as a resource in relation to those materials.
• Participate in multi-disciplinary committees. 
• Demonstrate responsibility for self-learning through participation in continuing education activities and conferences.
• Provide education to medical residents, students, NP and nursing students in collaboration with the program director. 
• In collaboration with Program Director may provide educational opportunities for the Psychiatric Residents such as didactics. 

Research Responsibilities:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the research process. 
• Collect and manage data as needed. 
• Review, disseminate, and incorporate research findings into clinic practice, and synthesize and apply evidenced based practice guidelines.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Licensed by the State of Pennsylvania as both a Registered Nurse (RN) and a Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner (CRNP)
• Valid DEA.
• To write prescriptions, must also be licensed by the State of PA for a CRNP Prescriptive Authority.
• Psychiatric Certification.
• Must have completed an accredited, Board-approved masters or post masters nurse practitioner program or other Board approved program that awarded an advanced degree or course of study considered by the Board to be equivalent to that required for certification in PA at the time the course was completed.
• Experience performing comprehensive health evaluations.
• Demonstrated ability to function both independently and in collaboration with other health care professionals. 
• Demonstrated expertise in relevant medical practices, protocol, trends and best practices in clinical areas assigned. Demonstrated knowledge and success in effecting overall clinical operations. 
• Previous experience working in a mental health specialty.
• CPR and BLS Certifications. 
• Valid PA driver’s license.