Clinical Psychiatric Registered Nurse (O-4 Billet) Non-Supervisory

Senior Psychiatric Clinical Nurse providing direct, complex behavioral health care to ICE detainees at the Krome Behavioral Health Unit. Develops and implements individualized nursing care plans, performs advanced clinical procedures, and serves as a team leader with clinical and administrative responsibilities. Works under the Nurse Manager in coordination with the SBHU Program Manager.

This position is only open to USPHS officers and Call to Active Duty (CAD) candidates.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Clinical Care and Support: provides direct care to patients in ICE Custody. Provides nursing care to patients with complex physical, mental, or social needs and develops, coordinates, implements, and evaluates comprehensive nursing plans of care to meet actual and anticipated patient needs.
2. Practices nursing in accordance with national, state, and local laws and regulations, IHSC policies, directives, guidelines, and accreditation standards.
3. Practices in accordance with IHSC Nursing Service Unit (NSU) Clinical Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics, nursing competencies, orientation/training, and nursing post orders.
4. Maintains and expands on clinical professional skills through continuing education and daily practice. Demonstrates advanced proficiency in a wide range of nursing concepts, principles, and practices, including correctional health, mental health, medical-surgical, ambulatory, and emergency nursing care.
5. Conducts nursing assessments, obtains health histories, performs triage, and provides direct nursing care and procedures as ordered, including medication administration, immunizations, laboratory specimen collection, etc.; in accordance with Lippincott Procedure Manual
6. Conducts comprehensive and holistic assessments, synthesizes data using evidence-based techniques, and prioritizes patient needs based on clinical judgment. Refers patients to higher level of care as appropriate.
7. Performs complex nursing tasks, technical skills, and procedures using appropriate equipment and nursing techniques effectively and efficiently. Independently carries out routine tasks and able to solve novel situations using available guidance and minimal supervision.
8. Implements and updates appropriate nursing care plans to meet identified patient care needs.
9. Documents all patient encounters accurately and timely in accordance with IHSC policy, using S.O.A.P.E. format and electronic health records.
10. Facilitates psychiatric patient group sessions for education and support purposes independently and with the health care team. Supports patient peer-led group sessions.
11. Provides care for psychiatric patients as indicated, including assessment and identification of high-risk symptoms and behaviors, including suicidal risk, homicidal risk, and verbally or physically difficult patients.
12. Conducts behavioral health unit specific nursing rounds, acute and triage encounters, psychiatric nursing assessments, medication monitoring, health education, and crisis response, escalating changes in medical or behavioral health status as appropriate.
13. Provides advanced patient health education using appropriate communication resources, utilizing interpretation and translation services as needed
14. Responds to emergency medical calls and provides emergency treatment as required.
15. Program and Administrative Support: participates with the NSU in the development, review, and implementation of nursing policies, procedures, corrective actions, and process improvement activities related to the delivery of nursing care. Provides expert level psychiatric nursing input into these processes.
16. Monitors compliance with IHSC policy, accreditation standards, and documentation requirements. Participates in or leads internal assessments and implements process improvements as needed in collaboration with nursing leadership.
17. Assists with orientation, training, and competency review for nursing staff. Serves as a preceptor to less experienced nursing staff during orientation, training, or assigned clinical development activities. May serve as primary preceptor to staff for a full orientation period.
18. Develops and presents at least one approved education offering with evaluation criteria annually, teaches at least two established training modules, or develops or updates two or more patient education materials.
19. Collaborates with nursing leadership to improve the effectiveness of orientation, training, competency review, and clinical practice support processes.
20. Engages in one or more collateral activities that contribute to the mission.
21. Supports implementation of SBHU local operating procedures, nursing post orders, therapeutic programming needs, documentation standards, quality assurance activities, and staff orientation related to psychiatric nursing care.

(continued in the Qualifications section)

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

1. Required to walk unaided at a normal pace for up to 5 minutes and maintain balance.
2. Required to jog/fast walk up to ¼ mile.
3. Required to perform CPR/emergency care standing or kneeling.
4. Must have the ability to assist sick, injured, or aging detainees or staff exiting the building (may require lifting, dragging, wheeling, or carrying someone who weighs significantly more than self).
5. Must be able to see, hear (with aids if necessary), and smell as needed.
6. Must easily alternate between kneeling and standing.
7. Must be able to lift, push, or carry 30 pounds.
8. Must have the ability to sit and/or stand for extended periods of time (6-8 hours).
9. Must perform duties in a stressful and often austere environment without physical limitations.
10. Hazardous duty assignment.

(Continued from the Duties and Responsibilities section)

1. Provides specialized psychiatric nursing support within the subacute behavioral health residential program and Modified Therapeutic Community model. Supports the SBHU mission by promoting patient stabilization, medication adherence, therapeutic engagement, continuity of care, and safe participation in structured programming. Contributes nursing assessment findings, behavioral observations, medication response information, chronic care needs, and functional status updates to the interdisciplinary treatment team to support treatment planning, continued stay review, discharge planning, hospital referral, and safe transition to a lower or higher level of care.
2. Collaboration and Communication: Collaborates with site leadership, including the Health Services Administrator (HSA), NM, Clinical Director (CD), and multidisciplinary teams, to establish, support, and maintain processes and procedures that meet applicable medical and operational standards.
3. Provides input into nursing treatment plans, assists with identification of special needs accommodations, and follows up on care as needed.
4. Communicates nursing operational and quality issues impacting efficiency and effectiveness of care to site leadership. Able to solve moderately complex issues with minimal leadership intervention.
5. Maintains collaborative relationships with other healthcare disciplines and outside agencies, such as CDC and state or local health departments, as appropriate to assigned duties.
6. Demonstrates expert-level therapeutic communication skills to build trust, ensure emotional safety, and support patient engagement.
7. Participates in interdisciplinary treatment team activities and communicates nursing observations relevant to treatment progress, safety concerns, special needs, discharge readiness, and continuity of care.
8. Quality Assurance, Data, and Reporting: applying psychiatric nursing expertise, participates in the development and/or review of evidence-based nursing clinical guidelines, protocols, education materials, and/or practice resources with the Nursing Services Unit as assigned.
9. Participates in team, unit, regional, or national quality improvement reviews and activities as assigned. Identifies and suggests process improvement activities at the local or regional level with a particular emphasis on psychiatric nursing care and operation of SBHU.
10. Identifies and reports nursing care issues, clinical observations, documentation concerns, and process improvement needs to site leadership. Analyzes issues to identify contributing factors and possible solutions. Develops and/or supports corrective actions as assigned in collaboration with nursing leadership.
11. Monitors and documents clinical activities, reviews nursing documentation for accuracy and compliance, and assists with data collection and reporting for quality assurance purposes as assigned. May prepare statistical information and special reports as necessary.
12. Professional Development and Leadership: Demonstrates and promotes culturally competent care in all clinical areas.
13. Maintains knowledge of current nursing research trends and applies evidence-based practices in accordance with established clinical guidelines and standards.
14. Demonstrates expert clinical judgment and serves as a clinical resource to nursing staff, site leadership, and multidisciplinary team members as assigned.
15. Serves as a mentor, preceptor, and resource to less experienced nursing staff by providing guidance, training, and support for clinical development.
16. Serves in a leadership or active member role in an agency group, team, committee, task force, or similar body at or above the local, regional, or national level as assigned.
17. Functions as a team leader for assigned nursing staff, distributes workload, prioritizes area needs, supports timely accomplishment of tasks, provides instruction related to job techniques, and exercises limited operational control over team members.
18. May serve as acting SBHU NM in the absence of the NM to provide clinical and administrative nursing oversight. May serve as a member of the local leadership team (TRIAD) in the absence of the SBHU NM, working in partnership with the NSU and the local TRIAD to support clinic operations and nursing standards.
19. Participates in planning, coordinating, implementing, and evaluating nursing practice activities, policies, procedures, or education initiatives in collaboration with nursing leadership with a particular focus on psychiatric nursing care.
20. Supports nursing leadership, program management, and clinic operations through assigned education, precepting, quality improvement, committee, task force, or process improvement work with a particular focus on psychiatric nursing care.
21. Participates in agency training as required and leadership development as recommended.
22. Commissioned Corps nurse officers only: maintains U.S. Public Health Service requirements.
23. Serves as a subject matter expert on psychiatric nursing care for SBHU staff and supports Nurse Manager to maintain safe staffing, continuity of care, and therapeutic program integrity. May serve as acting Nurse Manager as needed.
24. Other Duties: Performs additional clinical, administrative, training, quality improvement, or leadership support duties as assigned in support of IHSC's mission and operational requirements.
25. Must work rotating shifts, including holidays and weekends.
26. Civil Service nurses only: May volunteer to support agency nursing operations via temporary duty assignments (TDY).
27. Commissioned Corps nurse officers only: required to support agency nursing operations via temporary duty assignments (TDY), which may include travel 30 or more days per year.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

1. Bachelor's degree in nursing from a professional school approved by the appropriate accrediting agency is required. Requires more than three years of clinical nursing experience. Experience in correctional health care is preferred. Nursing management experience and leadership training or experience are preferred
2. Minimum of one year of psychiatric nursing experience as a registered nurse.
3. Must be a registered nurse licensed by a State, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or U.S. territory; maintains current professional licensure and CPR/BLS certification.
4. Must obtain Board Certification in Psychiatric Nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center within 24 months upon hiring if not certified upon date of hiring. Must maintain Board Certification in Psychiatric Nursing once certified.
5. Knowledge of the Nurse Practice Act for the licensing state or territory and the state or territory in which one practices nursing.
6. Intermediate knowledge of common office productivity and communication software such as email, word processing, spreadsheet and database applications.
7. Expert-level knowledge of psychiatric nursing care and common mental and behavioral conditions.
8. Experience with designing and facilitating structured psychiatric and psychoeducational nursing groups
9. Expert-level knowledge of mental health disorders and conditions as defined in the relevant professional knowledge bases (e.g. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition).
10. Knowledge of medication administration guidelines and commonly used pharmaceutical agents, including desired and adverse effects, sufficient to recognize untoward reactions and take appropriate corrective action in accordance with established protocols.
11. Knowledge of requirements for patient safety, infection control, quality assurance, maintenance of patient records, and collection of statistical information.
12. Skill in using training methods and interpersonal communication techniques to develop rapport with patients and coworkers when presenting instructional or educational information.
13. Knowledge of professional nursing principles (to include psychiatric nursing principles), procedures, and techniques related to patient care and nursing supervision.
14. Knowledge of a wide range of nursing concepts, principles, and practices to perform nursing assessments of considerable diversity, including mental health, medical-surgical, ambulatory, and emergency nursing care.
15. Knowledge of nursing management, leadership, and team-building principles sufficient to function as clinic coordinator, acting NM, preceptor, or clinical resource as assigned.
16. Knowledge of teaching methods and patient health education skills sufficient to develop, update, present, or evaluate patient or staff education materials and training.
17. Ability to assess and evaluate complex health care needs of patients and develop, coordinate, implement, and evaluate comprehensive nursing care plans to meet actual and anticipated patient needs.
18. Ability to perform complex nursing tasks, technical skills, and procedures effectively and efficiently with limited need for supervision.
19. Flexibility and ability to adapt to sudden changes in schedules and work requirements.
20. Advanced oral/written communication, active listening, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.
21. Ability to prioritize, plan, and organize workload for self and team members

You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position. | You must successfully pass a background investigation. | You must successfully pass a drug screen. | Males born after 12/31/59 must certify registration with Selective Service. | Requirements by Closing Date: Unless otherwise noted, you must meet all requirements by the closing date of the announcement. | Service Remaining Requirement Agreement: Upon appointment to this position, officers will be required to serve an 18 to 24-month commitment to IHSC. | ASSIGNMENT PAY AGREEMENT: You must not have a current Assignment Pay Agreement. However, if you have a current Assignment Pay Agreement, it must be fulfilled within 90 days of your application submission. | Applicants must be a current USPHS Commissioned Corps Officer or USPHS Call to Active Duty (CAD) candidate. Civilians are not eligible for this position. | Applicants without a USPHS commission must begin the USPHS Commissioned Corps application process before applying to this position. Applicants must review the USPHS application requirements and submit an application at www.usphs.gov/apply-now/. | Continued employment is contingent upon appointment to, and maintenance of, active-duty status in the USPHS Commissioned Corps. | PHS officers must participate in IHSC TDY On-Call Schedule (ITOS.) ITOS is either an entire month or two 16-day periods a year where, depending on the needs of the agency, the officer is required to be available to serve.