Physician Assistant- Palliative Care

The Palliative Physician Assistant provides Inpatient and/or Outpatient Palliative Care to Veterans the Salt Lake City VA Medical Center.

Major duties and responsibilities of the position: Independently manages a panel of patients with terminal illness with an emphasis on symptom management related to illness and discussion of goals of medical care. Develops and implements an individualized plan to achieve improved quality of life. Demonstrates leadership and works collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team. Orders and interprets labs, tests, and diagnostic studies. Prescribes pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions. Initiates referrals and consults to specialty services. Provides education to patients and their families. Assesses and adjusts the plan of care as needed to achieve optimal patient outcomes. Exemplifies the ICARE core values of-Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence. Clinical: Responds to all palliative care consults within 48 hours. Provides care to inpatient palliative and hospice patients. Initiates Outpatient consults for Hospice care as needed. Provide goal setting with Veteran and family, by initiating, and chairing Veteran/family meetings and recording the outcome of the meeting in the veteran's record to communicate veterans/families' goals for all involved staff to understand. These meetings may be in the inpatient or the outpatient setting. The veterans attending health care provider is encouraged to attend these family meetings. Some issues of discussion may include code status, advanced directives, identification of resource needs. These meetings will include the social worker, and chaplain to be in attendance as much as able. Collaborates with veterans and the medical providers caring for the veteran at the time (provider may be urgent care/ER , primary care, specialty care, or hospitalist) to be informed of the history and prognosis of the patient. Available to Emergency Medicine as needed, to assist with case-finding and goal setting. Has direct interaction with the veteran and family in various venues, such as primary care visits at the time of the veteran's appointment, Oncology Clinic, subspecialty clinics and acute care settings. Review ongoing pain and symptom management with evaluation and adjustments as needed for Veterans under the care of the SLCVHA. Special interest/skill in malignant acute pain management with availability to other medical providers for consultation. Fills scripts for opioids, palliative care medications and durable medical equipment requests as needed. Ensures that their clinical activities are within their Scope of Practice and are medically and ethically appropriate. Administrative: Demonstrates leadership and works collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team. Attends palliative care /hospice team meetings. Attends palliative care memorial service, participating as requested. Assists with evaluating requests made for inpatient palliative care admissions. Contributes to local, VISN, and National Palliative Care workgroups or QI as needed. Participating in conference calls as scheduled. Works to strengthen and progress the overall Hospice and Palliative care service in VISN. This activity is above and beyond normal duties and would contribute to higher level evaluations. Other duties as assigned. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: May be authorized by supervisor Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

All qualified candidates encouraged to apply. Open to U.S. Citizens but non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens. All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959. Must be proficient in written and spoken English. Subject to background/security investigation. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation/examination. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). You may be required to serve a probationary period. Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.