Palliative Nurse Practitioner

About Us

VIA Health Partners is an industry leader and top-10 nationally ranked provider of end-of-life care. We are a community-based, not-for-profit hospice and palliative care provider with deep community roots and decades of experience serving all patients’ and families’ needs regardless of their ability to pay or medical complexity. We are a people-first organization whose funds go to serve our mission.

Benefits

• Medical, Vision, and Dental plans through BCBS
• 28 days of Paid Time Off
• Excellent mileage reimbursement rate
• 403b Retirement plan with matching
• Focused programs honoring Veteran patients
• Assistance with achieving Certified Hospice & Palliative Nurse (CHPN)
• Best-in-class Orientation and Onboarding program
• Seasoned Hospice leaders guiding your career growth

Responsibilities

In addition to the general services outlined by the Board HPCCR, Nurse Practitioners will also provide the following specific services related to the care of patients with advanced life-threatening/life-limiting illnesses:

• Promote the highest quality of end-of-life care including hospice care and widespread use of advanced directives.
• Prevent suffering and alleviate physical, spiritual, and psychological pain.
• Diagnose, treat, and manage pain and other symptoms frequently experienced by patients at the end of life.
• Guide and counsel patients and their families regarding disease progression, prognosis, and the benefits/burdens of therapeutic measures, tests, procedures, and drugs.
• Prescribe and/or recommend therapeutic measures, tests, procedures, and drugs (including narcotics) in accordance with the ethical principles of medicine.
• Plan for situations beyond the nurse practitioner’s expertise and confer with the Medical Director or a Medical Services Physician as appropriate.
• Serve as an end-of-life care education resource both within the organization and in the outside community.
• Pursue educational opportunities that lead to improved outcomes.

As part of comprehensive and compassionate care, a Nurse Practitioner may utilize the following strategies:

• Evaluate patients by performing history and physical examinations.
• Discuss patients with attending physicians, consultants, nursing staff, and other medical professionals.
• Prescribe systemic and topical drug therapies including narcotics for pain and other symptoms.
• Conduct patient/family meetings to review medical issues and establish goals of care.
• Provide general psychosocial support.
• Refer for diet/exercise therapies.
• Recommend other non-pharmacological therapies such as massage therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and music therapy.
• Recommend additional psychosocial counseling by mental health professionals.
• Prescribe medical supplies and equipment.
• Recommend appropriate diagnostic tests and studies.
• Review and discuss advance care directives.
• Recommend referral to hospice services.
• Participate in team discussions regarding patient care to gain insight and suggestions.
• Self-direct learning to remain up-to-date on current trends in hospice and palliative medicine.

The following is a general outline of the basic duties of a Nurse Practitioner:

• Provide comprehensive medical care to HPCCR patients.
• Serve as a medical resource for HPCCR staff.
• Assist in staff training.
• Assist in education and training of healthcare professionals and the public.
• Optimize cost-effective plan of care.
• Assist in the development of policies.
• Maximize clinical efficiency to ensure reimbursement is optimized.
• Enhance palliative and hospice care by promoting increased and earlier referrals to palliative medicine and hospice.
• Submit billing and documentation according to policy.
• Accommodate requests from the Medical Director to add or modify duties to accomplish team and organization goals.
• Perform other duties as required.

Requirements

• Master’s Degree in nursing.
• Current, active, and unrestricted NC license as Registered Nurse (RN).
• Official recognition as Nurse Practitioner from NC Board of Nursing.
• Successful board certification in specialty within 2 years of date of hire.
• Current and unrestricted DEA and Basic Life Support certification required.
• Computer proficiency is required.

Qualifications

• Minimum 1 year of related experience.
• Experience in direct care of patients with life-limiting illnesses required.
• Related experience may include hospice and palliative care; family medicine; internal medicine; geriatrics, oncology; home health care; medical surgical.