Advanced Practice Nurse (Nurse Practitioner) - Community Care

Veterans Health Administration • Jackson, MS

1d

About The Position

The Advanced Practice Nurse (Nurse Practitioner) practices in the Community Care Service, providing a full range of services that emphasize quality, timeliness, and advancement of the Veterans Affairs mission. The position provides advanced clinical practice, consultation, and management. The Nurse Practitioner independently delivers care using treatment guidelines, collaborates with patients, families, practitioners, and stakeholders, and supports veteran self-determination. The role contributes to performance improvement, incorporates research and evidence-based practice, and helps improve care at the patient-panel, program, or population level.

The Nurse Practitioner develops and manages individualized plans for population health and disease management, orders and interprets diagnostic studies, prescribes interventions, initiates specialty referrals and consults, educates patients and families, and adjusts care plans to optimize outcomes. The position demonstrates leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, effective communication, professionalism, teamwork, and VA’s ICARE values: Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence.

The position is scheduled Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM; the schedule may change based on facility needs. Ad-hoc telework may be available at the supervisor’s discretion, but this is not a virtual position. Relocation and recruitment incentives and permanent change of station are not authorized.

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship, except that non-citizens may be appointed when qualified citizens cannot be recruited in accordance with VA policy.
• Proficiency in basic written and spoken English for direct patient care.
• A post-master’s certificate, master’s degree, or doctoral degree as a Nurse Practitioner.
• Graduation from a professional nursing school approved by the appropriate accrediting agency and accredited by ACEN or CCNE when the program was completed.
• Foreign nursing education must have Nurse Practitioner degree equivalency validated through an agency-recognized degree-equivalency evaluation agency.
• An active, current, full, and unrestricted Nurse Practitioner license in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, or the District of Columbia.
• Full and current basic board certification in an accepted Nurse Practitioner specialty: FNP, ANP, AGPCNP, ACNP, AGACNP, or GNP, from ANCC, AANPCB, or another nationally recognized certifying body in the academically prepared area.
• Nurse Practitioner II: meet the basic education requirements; no experience is required.
• Nurse Practitioner III: meet the basic education requirements and have one year of specialized Nurse Practitioner experience equivalent to the Nurse II grade level.
• Meet the applicable grade-level scope and dimension expectations for clinical practice, outcome focus, leadership, professional development, and professionalism/collegiality.
• Applicants selected for testing-designated positions are subject to urinalysis for illegal drug use; refusing testing results in denial of employment.
• Males born after December 31, 1959, must be registered for Selective Service.
• Must be subject to a background/security investigation and complete online onboarding and pre-employment identification requirements.
• Must pass a pre-employment physical evaluation.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is required for VA Health Care Personnel.
• May be required to serve a probationary period and must complete application requirements in the announcement’s Required Documents section.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience in case management or care coordination within a healthcare setting.
• Strong clinical background in primary care, specialty referral management, or utilization review.
• Experience collaborating with community providers and coordinating care across multiple healthcare systems.
• High attention to detail and ability to accurately review, track, and manage consults, referrals, and patient documentation.

Responsibilities

• Independently provide a full range of Nurse Practitioner services using treatment guidelines to deliver high-quality care.
• Collaborate with patients, families, and health care practitioners to develop, implement, and evaluate care.
• Use customer service principles, support veteran self-determination, and serve as a resource for patients and staff addressing ethical issues.
• Contribute to performance improvement by identifying, analyzing, developing, and implementing processes to improve care at the panel, program, or population level.
• Use research, evidence-based practice, professional and regulatory standards, and clinical practice guidelines to validate or change clinical practice.
• Support dissemination of evidence-based practice, research, quality-improvement monitoring, best practices, and performance-improvement results.
• Identify and evaluate clinical and process opportunities and trends for improvement, and take appropriate action to resolve them.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to improve patient care, staff development, and performance measures.
• Communicate positively and practically, demonstrating professional behavior that promotes cooperation and teamwork.
• Develop and implement individualized plans to achieve optimal population health and disease management.
• Demonstrate leadership and work collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team.
• Order and interpret laboratory tests, other tests, and diagnostic studies.
• Prescribe pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions.
• Initiate referrals and consults to specialty services.
• Educate patients and their families.
• Assess and adjust plans of care as needed to achieve optimal patient outcomes.
• Exemplify the ICARE core values of Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence.

Benefits

• Competitive salary, regular salary increases, and potential performance awards.
• 50 days of paid time off per year: 26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, and 11 paid federal holidays.
• Traditional federal pension, with five-year vesting.
• Federal 401(k), with VA contributions of up to 5%.
• Federal health, vision, dental, term life, and long-term care insurance; many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level