Registered Nurse (RN) (FT) - ACT Program - Gwinnett/Rockdale/Newton

View Point Health

Job Title: Registered Nurse (RN)

Job Code: HCP071/Registered Nurse 2 or T7001 Professional Health Care Worker

Shift: Full-Time (40 hours per week on average)

Job Hours: Times May Vary

Base Location: Gwinnett/Rockdale/Newton (Based on Area of Assignment)

Division/Department/Program: Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Program

View Point Health is a community behavioral health center utilizing a team of psychiatrists, nurses, licensed counselors and social workers, as well as other professionals to provide services to individuals who need treatment and support to cope with mental illness, substance abuse, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. View Point Health serves uninsured, underinsured, low-income Medicaid, Medicare, war veterans and some private insurance across multiple locations with a full continuum of behavioral health services and support.

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) uses a multidisciplinary team approach to provide intensive mental health treatment services to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness in their homes and other community settings-24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. ACT is often referred to as a “hospital without walls” and its goal is to keep individuals out of state hospitals, jails, emergency rooms and other institutions. ACT clients must meet a strict criterion (i.e., diagnosed with a severe and persistent mental illness, unable to maintain activities of daily living, and be unsuccessful in other forms of treatment). ACT clients often have no resources and no family support and require an intensive and expeditious form of treatment.

The Behavioral Health Nurse, ACT, is a Registered Nurse (RN) who provides nursing assessments and medication management for adults with behavioral health or substance abuse disorders. Services are designed to treat the acutely distressed consumers in the community with no delay, preventing hospitalization, incarceration, or other placements.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Provides intensive nursing services for consumers with severe and persistent behavioral health disorders. Typically, the goal is prevention of hospitalization or other out-of-home placements.
• Provides services primarily in community settings: home, school, and other service settings.
• Conducts face-to-face comprehensive nursing/health assessments to identify problems and service needs.
• Contributes to individual service plans that meet Medicaid, insurer, CARF and other required standards for diagnoses, content, justifications for treatment, evidence of consumer input, and treatment time frames.
• Evaluates client care and progress to ensure immediate attention to changing medical treatment needs.
• Work in conjunction with the Nurse Practitioner, administers any initial and ongoing medications prescribed.
• Provides the client and family members as needed, information about management of medication, complications, and side effects.
• Follows all Medicaid, state, insurer, and other regulations related to the credentials required to provide authorized services.
• Provides and bills only those consumer services that are authorized in the service plan.
• Arranges appointment schedule at optimal intervals to maximize use of work time.
• Monitors consumer progress and compliance with the service plan.
• Writes timely progress notes that relate directly to the treatment outcomes described in the service plan.
• Assembles, analyzes and interprets new/updated information about the consumer in order to reassess treatment needs. Identifies unmet needs, reviews available resources, and modifies the treatment plan as indicated.
• Provides accurate and timely documentation of charts in a computerized record system.
• Maintain medical records and comply with third party payer requirements for documentation and authorizations.
• Provides service linking and monitoring to address all mental health and medical care needs.
• Establishes linkages and coordination of services with community agencies.
• Develops and maintains cooperative working relationships with community service providers.
• Informs consumers and families of the availability of community advocacy and support groups.
• Other critical services provided include symptom management, behavior management planning, teaching of relevant skills, supportive community-based interventions, and crisis intervention services.
• Participates in interdisciplinary case staffing and staff meetings.
• May teach in an individual or group setting behavioral symptoms management techniques to alleviate and manage symptoms not reduced by medication and/or adaptation/coping techniques for internal and external stresses.
• Provides on-call, after-hour services on a rotational schedule.
• Other related duties as assigned.

Programming Specific Duties:

• Travel in all assigned Region (Gwinnett/Rockdale/Newton/DeKalb/Fulton) and transport individuals when needed.
• Perform nursing duties.
• Work after hours and weekends when needed.
• Be available to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day when On-call.
• Participate in daily morning meetings.
• Perform other disciplined duties when appropriate and needed.
• Other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

Associate degree in nursing from an accredited college or university and current Georgia license as a Registered Professional Nurse or Multistate license; or one (1) year of experience at the lower-level Registered Nurse 1 (HCP070) or position equivalent.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with the Severe and Persistently Mentally ill population, ACT teams, or individual identified as being frequent users of ERs, Psychiatric Hospitals, Crisis Stabilization Units, and the criminal justice system.
• Nursing experience.
• Community experiences working with individuals with SPMI.
• Experience working in a highly stressed, fast-paced environment with a very emotionally and physically changing population.
• Experience working in multi-disciplinary teams.
• Ability to multi-task and manage time.

Requirements/Competencies:

• Must be able to lift 20 pounds.
• Requires long periods of sitting/standing.
• Must have valid Georgia driver’s license and Motor Vehicle Record in accordance with company policy.
• Candidates for selection must pass a criminal background check (including fingerprinting).
• Must pass a pre-employment drug screen and subject to random drug screens.

Note: Some positions may require a valid driver's license.

View Point Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer: View Point Health recruits qualified candidates for positions in View Point Health programs throughout its service area. It is the policy of View Point Health to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination or harassment of any type without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.