Behavioral Health Technician - Behavioral Emergency Response Team

UNC Health•Raleigh, NC

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Behavioral Health Technician (BHT) is part of the Behavioral Emergency Response Team (BERT), which responds promptly to acute behavioral changes involving at-risk behavior among patients, visitors, or staff. The team works with healthcare providers, hospital security, and nursing teams to contain situations, protect people in the vicinity, and obtain necessary medical or psychiatric attention. BERT consists of a Registered Nurse and a Behavioral Health Technician and responds across inpatient areas, the emergency department, lobbies, and hospital-based outpatient clinics. Under close supervision, the Behavioral Health Technician provides a safe, supportive, and therapeutic environment for psychiatric patients. The role provides direct patient care and may conduct therapeutic groups under RN direction and supervision. The technician contributes information to the RN to help develop care plans and helps carry them out, assists with admissions, and orients patients and families to the unit. The position is onsite in Raleigh and works a night schedule of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., three shifts per week, for 36 standard hours per week.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED; a higher-level degree may satisfy this requirement.
Listed as a Nursing Assistant I by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) certification within 60 days of hire.
Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
One year of relevant experience in a behavioral health environment.
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with patients and hospital staff.
Ability to work with patients with sensitivity and understanding, gain their cooperation, and maintain an empathetic attitude.
Ability to work with individuals and groups in didactic or recreational groups.
Ability to remain calm in stressful situations.
Fluency in verbal and written English.
Ability to develop computer skills if not already competent.

Responsibilities

Support reality orientation and behavior modification plans or therapy, provide informal support to patients and families, and verbally de-escalate potentially aggressive patients.
Assist with physical management of aggressive or out-of-control patients and participate in restraining combative patients when necessary.
Facilitate age-appropriate play for children and monitor therapeutic milieu activities to help meet patients’ emotional and safety needs.
Assist with interviews of patients and families for routine admission data and orient patients and families to the facility.
Provide input during team discussions and meetings to help develop therapeutic plans and objectives.
Interact with patients one-to-one and in small groups; facilitate assigned groups to encourage participation and interaction appropriate to members’ functional levels.
Observe, collect, and document patient information; promptly report significant changes in condition or behavior to a registered nurse or physician.
Provide direct personal care for activities of daily living, including bathing, personal hygiene, feeding, and dressing.
Assist patients with position changes, range-of-motion exercises, transfers, and walking.
Obtain and record vital signs, intake and output, and other delegated measures.
Provide protection and control as needed for patient safety, and monitor patients in seclusion or restraint.
Reinforce routine teaching provided by a registered nurse or physician and document patient understanding of instructions.
Distribute patient education materials at the request of patients or healthcare providers.