Palliative Care Provider-Advance Practice Nurse

About the role

The Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) Certified Nurse Practitioner (NP) in Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC) Palliative Service provides advanced clinical care, consultation, and management for the GEC Palliative Service. The APN practices to the full scope of education and certification, with prescriptive authority, delivering quality, timely care, collaborating with teams, and advancing the VA mission.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement an individualized plan to achieve improved quality of life
• Demonstrates leadership and works collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team
• Order and interpret labs, tests, and diagnostic studies
• Prescribe pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions
• Initiate referrals and consultations with specialty services
• Provide education to patients and their families
• Assess and adjust the plan of care as needed to achieve optimal patient outcomes
• Exemplify the ICARE core values of Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence
• Respond to all palliative care consults within 48 hours
• Initiate, chair, and record outcomes of Veteran/family meetings; communicate goals (meetings may be in the inpatient or outpatient setting); providers, social workers, and chaplain are encouraged to attend these meetings
• Discuss issues such as code status, advanced directives, and identification of resource needs
• Collaborate with veterans and medical providers (urgent care/ER, primary care, specialty care, or hospitalist) to be informed of patient history and prognosis
• Provider is available to Emergency Medicine as needed to assist with case-finding and goal setting
• Directly interact with Veterans 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
• Provide care to inpatient palliative and hospice patients
• Special interest/skill in malignant acute pain management with availability to other medical providers for consultation
• Fill scripts for opioids, palliative care medications, and durable medical equipment requests as needed
• Attend palliative care/hospice team meetings and palliative care memorial service; participate as requested
• Assist with request evaluation for inpatient palliative care admissions
• Contribute to local, VISN, and National Palliative Care workgroups or QI as needed
• Participate in conference calls as scheduled
• Advance and enhance Hospice and Palliative Care services across VISN; foster continuous improvement and quality care delivery; which is above and beyond normal duties and contributes to higher evaluations
• Other duties as assigned

Requirements

• 1 full and unrestricted license from any US State or territory

Benefits

• Paid Time Off: 50 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
• Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

Pay

• Competitive salary with regular salary increases and potential for performance awards

Schedule

Work Schedule: 0800-1630, Monday to Friday