Public Health Nurse

Job Summary:

We are seeking a highly skilled and dedicated Public Health Nurse to join our team at Gallatin County, MT. As a Public Health Nurse, you will play a vital role in promoting and protecting the health of our community. Your primary responsibility will be to provide home visiting and other nursing services to high-risk families, assessing health issues, monitoring growth and development, and providing education on healthy pregnancies, lactation, and postnatal care.

Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct home visits for high-risk families to assess individual and family health issues and provide education as appropriate.
• Monitor and evaluate clients, identify patient needs, develop patient plans of care, and provide educational information on appropriate topics or make referrals to community resources and services.
• Provide services to clients referred to the home visiting programs of the Health Department to ensure needs are met.
• Assess family needs based on historical and current information, develop treatment plans, and establish a plan with goals, objectives, and activities that can be accomplished with support.
• Make referrals to other community resource agencies and specialists as appropriate.
• Ensure all paperwork is completed, documentation is submitted, and all necessary family information is gathered.
• Establish partnerships with families as a service provider and advocate, building trust in the relationship between family members and the incumbent.
• Follow up with clients to ensure appropriate services have been obtained, determine progress in following treatment plans, and provide additional education and support.
• Serve as a liaison between the Health Department and other community service programs and providers.
• Review caseloads, files, statistics, and summaries associated with the program to identify success, trends, issues of concern, and opportunities to provide improved and/or more comprehensive services to high-risk families.
• Review and revise care plans and determine if changes are appropriate and necessary, implementing changes as needed.
• Respond to crises on an as-needed basis by assisting family members in resolving problems and de-escalating critical situations and events.
• Complete required documentation in an accurate and timely manner for the purpose of keeping current and progressive data related to needs, efforts, progress, outcome, and communication with family.
• Maintain current records for multiple programs.
• Provide intensive home visitation for the Health Department Programs in collaboration with the Social Workers and Father Engagement Specialist.
• Administer immunizations to clients of varying ages, from newborn to the elderly, determining vaccines required and establishing appropriate schedules.
• Assess contraindications, precautions, and risks, providing individualized instruction to patients or parents, and keeping accurate records of immunizations.
• Promote immunizations through public education and social media when needed, assisting the Immunization & Communicable Disease Program in daycare inspections and review of immunization records.
• Participate in all aspects of program service delivery, including surveillance, follow-up of reportable communicable diseases, public education, record keeping, and data collection, training, and ensuring compliance with applicable rules and regulations.
• Provide nursing consultation to school personnel regarding issues related to student health, safety, nutrition, immunizations, communicable diseases, and readiness for learning.
• Conduct educational health classes for various student populations on topics appropriate for age group, including maturation and human sexuality.
• Educate medication administration to non-licensed school personnel and ensure compliance with safe practices and procedures.
• Serve as a liaison between schools, parents, and healthcare providers to facilitate individualized health care plans for students with chronic diseases or other special health care needs.
• Consult with and assess individual students in relation to health concerns or injuries and determine appropriate courses of action.
• Conduct school screening programs, including vision and pre-kindergarten.
• Work with the Immunization program to organize and conduct school-based immunization clinics, administering age-appropriate vaccines with parental consent.
• Enhance community health through participation in local and countywide activities that promote partnerships, collaboration, and education associated with effective public health resources and services.
• Teach classes and make public presentations on topics such as prenatal care, breastfeeding, parenting, and blood-borne pathogens.
• Collaborate with other organizations and agencies to provide comprehensive health services to individual clients and develop population-based services.
• Participate on community boards and committees as a healthcare professional.
• Manage and coordinate the activities of the FICMMR team, according to guidelines established by DPHHS, recruiting and maintaining multi-disciplinary team membership.
• Receive reports of fetal, infant, or child deaths and seek reports from appropriate team members, facilitating reviews to gain a complete and accurate understanding of the circumstances leading to the death.
• Identify any modifiable risk factors, gaps, or barriers the team can address focusing on prevention, engaging and utilizing the team to help select, plan, deliver, and evaluate best practice, injury prevention activities, or strategies to address preventable deaths.

Requirements:

• Associate's Degree in Nursing from a National League of Nursing (NLN) accredited school of nursing.
• Licensed as a Registered Nurse in the State of Montana.
• One year of work experience as a registered nurse, preferably in public health.

Competencies:

• Public Health Tier: Frontline employee.
• Organizational Competencies: Continuous Quality Improvement, Inclusion, Team Building, Communication, Reliability, Organization, Integrity, Motivation, Productivity, Purpose.
• Job Specific Competencies: Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Policy Development and Program Planning Skills, Communication Skills, Health Equity Skills, Community Partnership Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Management and Finance Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills.

Accountability:

This position is accountable for provision of direct services and carrying out standardized practices and procedures to a wide variety of problems or situations.

Work may often require the incumbent to interpret and apply rules, regulations, and policies to situations that may be without specific protocols and require individual professional judgment to determine the appropriate health services required.

The incumbent must accurately document patient encounters.

This position is a mandatory reporter for child abuse and neglect and frequently serves as a member of a Department of Child and Family Services intervention team who are working with families that have or are at risk of abusing their children.

Confidentiality is maintained in all written and oral communications, in accordance with the Uniform Health Information Act or the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, whichever is more stringent.

Independence of Action:

The incumbent in this position and the supervisor jointly determine and develop work objectives.

The nature of the assignments gives significant responsibility to the incumbent for planning and organizing the work, resolving conflicts, and determining methods and approaches most suited for achieving the objectives.

Considerable judgment is required to apply very broad stated guidelines and policies.

Work is not typically reviewed and is usually accepted without change.

Personal Contacts:

Communication occurs both within and outside the work unit and includes contacts with school staff, community members and leaders, state, federal, and local government agencies, and the general public.

The contacts are typically to provide direct services of the Department, to exchange information, and to provide training and instruction to others.

Additional Compensable Factors:

This position has no regular supervisory responsibility over other employees.

The position may provide guidance and training to employees with less experience, occasionally fill in for supervisor, or coordinate special projects.

Work Environment/Physical Demands:

Work is performed in a wide variety of settings with clients and patients.

Conducting home visits requires travel in inclement weather.

Contact with the public in health care situations requires the incumbent to exercise universal precautions to prevent or minimize exposure to illness and disease.

This position requires the incumbent to make home visits, often to individuals and families who are under stress, mentally ill, or would be considered high-risk for other psychosocial reasons.

At times, the incumbent would be required to handle contentious situations or angry public in a professional manner.

The work requires moderate physical effort or exertion when carrying equipment or educational materials.

Licenses and Certifications:

Applicants for this position must possess a valid driver's license and be insurable under the County's liability policies.

As a condition of hire, the final candidate will be required to successfully pass a criminal history check and background investigation.

Benefits:

Gallatin County offers a comprehensive benefits package, including group health benefits, dental and vision coverage, and a flexible benefits plan.

Employees are also eligible for supplemental medical coverage and voluntary life insurance coverage.

The County contributes to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and offers a supplemental retirement benefits plan.

Employees accrue sick leave and vacation leave, and are eligible for paid parental leave.

Tuition assistance is also available to eligible employees.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Gallatin County is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from diverse candidates.

All applicants will be considered for employment on the basis of merit and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, or physical or mental disability.