Behavioral Health Professional Per Diem- BERT

Summary

Behavioral Emergency Response Team (BERT) clinicians provide support to patients and staff at the Tucson Medical Center campus. They work with the treatment team to help de-escalate situations and develop individualized care plans that target challenging behaviors to ultimately help with reducing injuries to patients and staff. BERT clinicians collaborate with multi-disciplinary team members to identify patient-specific needs and barriers to treatment compliance. The BERT clinicians play a major role in an established hospital response process that offers staff assistance before a patient or situation escalates.

Essential Functions

• Absolutely assess the patient and their psychosocial risk factors through evaluation of current and prior functioning levels, patient’s mental health history, severity of psychiatric symptoms, appropriateness and adequacy of support systems, reaction to illness and ability to cope.
• Evaluate for self-injurious or harmful behaviors and recommend precautions according to patient acuity.
• Evaluate social determinants of health factors influencing health status, integrating these into the plan.
• Consult with BHS psychiatrists/PMHNPs and attending physician for case review and medication recommendations.
• Provide psychiatric diagnoses and appropriately document clinical criteria and psychiatric symptoms.
• Provide counseling and/or treatment to individuals, couples, families, or groups by establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship to understand and intervene in intrapersonal, interpersonal, and psychosocial dynamics; and to diagnose and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and addictions.
• Educate adults, children and families experiencing emotional disturbances, mental illness or problems related to substance abuse.
• Intervene with patients and families regarding emotional, social, and financial consequences of illness and/or disability; accesses and mobilizes family/community resources to meet identified needs.
• Provide intervention in cases involving child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, elderly abuse, institutional abuse, and sexual assault.
• Serve as a resource person and provide crisis counseling and intervention related to treatment decisions.
• Advocate for patient and family empowerment and independence to make autonomous health care decisions and access needed services within the health care system and the community at large.
• Ensure safe care to patients adhering to policies, procedures, and standards, within budgetary specifications, including time management, supply management, productivity, and accuracy of practice.
• Promote individual professional growth and development by meeting requirements for mandatory/continuing education, skills competency, supports department-based goals which contribute to the success of the organization; serves as preceptor, mentor, and resource to less experienced staff.
• Maintain confidentiality and always protect sensitive data, including patient information, proprietary information and personnel information.
• Adhere to TMCH values of integrity, diversity, accountability, compassion, and teamwork.
• Work collaboratively and support efforts of other team members.

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Knowledge of crisis intervention skills and techniques, psychosocial factors influencing behavior, counseling concepts, and discharge planning.
• Ability to provide therapeutic techniques to provide problem resolution.
• Knowledge of best practices in working with various psychiatric populations.
• The ability to work independently.
• Proven capability in conducting evaluations to determine the psychosocial and psychiatric needs of adults, children, and families.
• Demonstrated capability in recommending the appropriate psychiatric levels of care.
• Applied crisis intervention techniques as well as evidenced based counseling techniques with both individuals and family members.
• Developed skill set of family systems and effective strategies for engaging the family in the patient’s treatment.
• Maintain clinician annual core competencies in: HIPAA/Privacy, Cultural Competence, Information Security Awareness, Domestic Violence, Levels of Care, Medications, Substance Use, DSM, Suicide/Homicide Assessments, and Psychiatric Emergencies.
• Theoretical knowledge of interviewing, assessment, organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to apply theory into the practice of: 1) identifying appropriate community resources on assigned caseload;2) working collaboratively with patients, families, multi-disciplinary team and community agencies to achieve desired patient outcomes; 3) Seeking consultation/supervision from team clinical leaders on complex psychiatric and/or medical cases when clinically appropriate.
• Possess knowledge of the importance of interpersonal communication and negotiation skills in interactions with patients, families, physicians, and other health care team staff.
• Good analytical and personal communication skills.
• Understand the need to develop collaborative relationships with physicians, families, patients, interdisciplinary team and other community agencies.
• Good communication skills and the theoretical knowledge of the importance of negotiation skills.
• Openness to working with people of all social, economic, and cultural backgrounds; being open-minded and adaptable to change.
• Demonstrate the ability to connect patients and families with necessary services, both inside and outside the TMC Health network.
• Some knowledge of services available in the local community, particularly services available to patients with limited or non-existent payment resources.
• Demonstrate patience and tact when dealing with patients, families, and other staff.