Registered Nurse (PACT Outpatient)

About the role

The Hampton VA Medical Center is a 1-C, teaching facility serving Eastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina. The main campus is located in Hampton, VA with 4 community-based outpatient clinics in Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, VA; and Elizabeth City, NC. Hampton VAMC provides comprehensive health care which includes primary care, acute inpatient, acute psychiatric, chronic spinal cord injury, an 169-bed domiciliary, and long term Community Living Center/hospice care unit.

Responsibilities

• Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) Outpatient Staff Registered Nurse (RN) is responsible and accountable for individual nursing practice and determines the appropriate delegation of tasks consistent with the nurse's obligation to provide optimal care.
• This nurse provides sex-specific direct Veteran care and care coordination, as it pertains, to Veterans and their care within the Primary Care Department.
• This nurse provides health promotion, health education and coaching on wellness, disease prevention, and chronic care management.
• Able to formulate a plan of care based on nursing assessments.
• Seeks guidance on how to improve care provided to patients and families.
• Delegates elements of care to the appropriate individual based upon assessed needs, condition, and safety of the patient.
• The nurse brings primary care principles and theory with limited application of critical thinking skills.
• The PACT RN assumes the role of Charge or Co-charge Nurse. Demonstrates timely and effective communication. Promotes seamless care coordination. Ensures effective and timely management of CPRS alerts, Call Center Relay Messaging Queue (CMRQ), and Secure Messaging by ensuring that patients' requests are acknowledged within 72 hours of receipt. Consistently complies with the Standard of Work (SOW) for ED and Inpatient 2-day post discharge calls.
• Collaborates with patients and interdisciplinary teams. Responsible for a robust chronic disease management program. Monitors PACT metrics with particular emphasis on HEDIS measures. Demonstrates proficiency in PACT reports including eQM (electronic quality management), VSSC (VA Support Service Center), SAIL and Primary Care Almanac, and PACT Compass. Collaborates with the patients and care teams to develop meaningful goals for patients.
• Contributes to Accreditation Readiness including Quick Sweeps, Environment of Care (EOC) rounds, and clinic daily logs. Leads and/or participates in daily huddles. Initiates and follows through with patient schedule scrubbing days to weeks in advance. Conducts Outreach to patients prior to appointment time to complete reminders. Triages walk-in patients and collaborates with providers to determine a plan of care. Conducts nurse visits and provide patient education. Rooms patients, performs treatments, administers medications, performs other patient care duties. Follows up on Community Care Consults.
• The Outpatient RN is fully competent in the application of Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior (PMDB) to Level 3. They are directly responsible to the Nurse Manager, Chief Nurse of Ambulatory Care and Associate Director of Patient Care Services. Outpatient nurses provide service to outpatient care settings and specialize in the whole health of the Veteran. The Outpatient RN demonstrates technical and operational knowledge and can apply PMDB skills in the outpatient setting.

Requirements

• Knowledge of professional nursing practice and the ability to apply the nursing process (assessment, diagnosis, outcome identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation) with close supervision.
• Knowledge of Veteran/patient driven care, patient experience, satisfaction, and safety.
• Communicates, collaborates, and utilizes leadership principles to perform as an effective member of the interprofessional team.
• Incorporates educational resources/opportunities and self evaluation for professional growth.
• Awareness of evidence-based practice/research to improve quality of care and resource utilization.
• Maintains confidentiality of patient records and protects printed and electronic files containing sensitive data in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 and other applicable laws, federal regulations, VA statutes and policy, and VHA guidelines.

Qualifications

• Basic Requirements:
• English Language Proficiency: No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English.
• Education: Graduate of a school of professional nursing approved by the appropriate accrediting agency and accredited by one of the following accrediting bodies at the time the program was completed by the applicant: The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) or The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE); OR Individuals attending a master's level bridge program in nursing who have completed coursework equivalent to a bachelor's level degree in Nursing may have opportunity to become registered as a nurse with a state licensing board prior to completion of the bridge program. Upon achievement of a State license, the individual may be appointed on temporary basis and later converted to a permanent appointment upon successful completion and graduation from the bridge program. (Reference VA Handbook 5005, Appendix G6); OR In cases of graduates of foreign schools of professional nursing, possession of a current, full, active, and unrestricted registration will meet the requirement for graduation from an approved school of professional nursing to warrant an appointment as a Nurse who has completed an associated degree/entry level Nursing education program. Credit for foreign nursing education higher that associate degree/entry level requires a formal degree equivalency validation from a recognized equivalency evaluation accepted by VA such as International Consultants of Delaware (ICD).
• Licensure: Current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a graduate professional nurse in a State, Territory or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico) of the United States, or the District of Columbia. Graduate Nurse Technician (GNT) Exception: Candidates who otherwise meet the basic education requirements, but do not possess the required licensure, may be appointed at the entry step of the grade and level applicable to the completed nursing education as a GNT on a 120-day temporary appointment while actively pursuing licensure (may be extended up to two years on a case-by-case-basis.)