Registered Nurse (RN), Psychiatry Float Pool

About the Role

Cincinnati Children's Psychiatry Resource Unit (PSRU) provides flexible staffing support across College Hill psychiatric and behavioral health programs. As a Psychiatry Float Pool RN, you will bring strong clinical judgment, therapeutic communication, and adaptability to a team that supports patient care across multiple behavioral health settings. This role is a strong fit for nurses who enjoy variety, teamwork, and the opportunity to broaden psychiatric nursing skills while making a meaningful difference for children, adolescents, and families.

Working as a PSRU Psychiatry Float Pool RN, you will enjoy:

• Developing broad psychiatric nursing experience by supporting multiple College Hill care areas.
• Using behavioral assessment, therapeutic communication, and trauma-informed care to support youth in crisis.
• Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams across supported psychiatry programs.
• Providing flexible staffing support that helps maintain safe, consistent, high-quality patient care.
• Implementing individualized care plans and documenting behavioral observations, safety needs, medication response, and patient progress.
• Strengthening adaptability, prioritization, and clinical decision-making in a dynamic float pool environment.
• Working in a state-of-the-art mental health facility that opened in October 2023.

Responsibilities

Psychiatric Nursing Care and Clinical Judgment

• Apply critical thinking and clinical judgment to assess patient needs and develop, coordinate, and implement nursing care interventions across physical and mental health needs.
• Administer medications, monitor effectiveness, recognize changes in patient condition, and escalate concerns as needed.
• Provide developmentally appropriate care and support activities of daily living in both group and individualized settings.
• Maintain designated observation levels with accuracy, compassion, and attention to safety.

Float Pool Support and Adaptability

• Float across supported College Hill psychiatric and behavioral health areas based on staffing needs and patient care priorities.
• Quickly adapt to unit-specific workflows, patient populations, team structures, and care expectations.
• Serve as a reliable clinical resource who contributes to safe staffing, continuity of care, and strong team communication.
• Demonstrate flexibility while maintaining consistent nursing practice, safety standards, and patient-centered care.

Milieu Support, Patient Safety, and Crisis Prevention

• Create and support safe, stable, and therapeutic environments for patients experiencing psychiatric, behavioral, emotional, or neurodevelopmental needs.
• Use trauma-informed and developmentally appropriate strategies to prevent and respond to behavioral escalation.
• Apply Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) strategies, including verbal de-escalation and physical intervention when required due to imminent risk.
• Perform safety checks, room and patient searches, and maintain awareness of environmental risk factors in accordance with unit expectations and policy.

Therapeutic Engagement and Team Collaboration

• Build therapeutic rapport while maintaining professional boundaries and advocating for patient and family needs.
• Lead or support structured therapeutic activities and group programming when assigned to applicable care areas.
• Collaborate with physicians, advanced practice providers, social workers, Behavioral Health Specialists, allied health professionals, and families.
• Contribute to shift reports, handoffs, interdisciplinary care planning, and family-centered communication.

Documentation, Compliance, and Professional Practice

• Accurately document assessments, care interventions, medication response, safety checks, incident reports, and patient progress.
• Maintain current knowledge of regulatory, accreditation, departmental, and hospital standards.
• Complete required certifications, licensure renewals, and Safety College trainings on schedule.
• Engage in shared decision-making, peer feedback, professional development, and ongoing education to maintain competency and promote growth.
• Collaborate effectively using the Interprofessional Practice Model (IPM) to support cohesive, coordinated care.

Qualifications

Required

• Associate/Diploma prepared RN from an ACEN, CCNE, or NLN CNEA accredited institution.
• If hired as an external candidate without a BSN or MSN, must enroll in a BSN or MSN program within 1 year of hire date and complete the program within 5 years of hire date.
• Active Ohio RN license. May be required to obtain other state licensure.
• Foreign graduates must have license validated through TruMerit per Ohio Board of Nursing code for foreign graduates.
• Must pass Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Certification Course during orientation.

Preferred

• BSN from an ACEN or CCNE accredited institution or MSN.
• Psychiatric, behavioral health, pediatric, emergency, inpatient, residential, or float pool nursing experience.
• Comfort working across multiple clinical environments and adapting to changing staffing needs.
• Strong therapeutic communication, de-escalation, teamwork, and prioritization skills.

Schedule

• 0.8 FTE (32 hrs/wk)
• Nights (11:00pm-7:30am)

Benefits

• Full-Time Benefits Eligible