Head Nurse (40 Hour)

State of Connecticut • Middletown, CT

4d • Onsite

About The Position

Are you a Registered Nurse looking to make a difference in the lives of children and their families in Connecticut? If so, we invite you to take this opportunity to join our team at the Albert J. Solnit Children’s Center! The State of Connecticut, Department of Children and Families (DCF) – John Dempsey Hospital – is recruiting for multiple first, second and third shift Head Nurse positions in Middletown, CT. DCF is seeking dedicated and experienced nursing leaders to join our team as Head Nurses. In this critical role, you will lead professional and paraprofessional nursing staff in delivering high-quality, person-centered care while ensuring the highest standards of nursing practice are maintained. You will have the opportunity to shape daily operations, coordinate care, mentor and develop staff, and promote a collaborative environment focused on the health, safety, and well-being of the individuals we serve. As a Head Nurse, you will bring your clinical expertise and leadership skills to planning and implementing the nursing process, establishing unit priorities and workflow, overseeing staff performance, and supporting professional development. You will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to promote continuity of care, respond to emergencies, ensure the safe management of controlled medications, and contribute to the development of policies and standards. This is an opportunity to lead with purpose, support a dedicated nursing team, and make a meaningful difference in the lives of children, youth, and families served by DCF.

Requirements

• Two (2) years of experience as a Registered Nurse
• Possess and retain a license or temporary permit as a Registered Nurse in Connecticut OR hold a Multistate or Compact Registered Nurse license.
• Considerable knowledge of and ability to independently apply nursing principles, techniques and standards
• specialized individual care applicable to nursing assignment
• medications, their actions, interactions, uses and side effects
• Knowledge of general and mental health conditions and treatment interventions through utilization of assessment, nursing diagnosis, outcome identification, health planning, implementation and re-evaluation
• adult learning and family systems theory
• sensitivity to cultural and socio-economic differences
• Considerable interpersonal skills
• oral and written communication skills
• Ability to establish and maintain collaborative relationships with other professionals, community resources and providers
• act as a role model to health care staff
• Supervisory ability
• Considerable knowledge of behavioral health of individuals
• Skill working with individuals, groups and families
• Ability to provide therapeutic treatment with a variety of individuals

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in a hospital, regional, institutional, or psychiatric setting.
• Experience working with children in a hospital, regional, institutional, or psychiatric setting.
• Fluent in a foreign language or proficient in the use of the American Sign Language in certain designated positions.
• May be required to travel.

Responsibilities

• Leads the planning of care and implementation of the nursing process
• Plans unit workflow and determines priorities
• Schedules, assigns, oversees and reviews work
• Makes recommendations for personnel actions such as selection, discipline and performance
• Conducts or assist in conducting performance evaluations
• Leads professional and paraprofessional nursing staff in provision of patient/individual care
• Maintains and promotes standards of nursing
• Ensures controlled drugs are properly stored, administered and ordered
• Identifies staff development needs
• Provides staff training and assistance
• Instructs staff regarding policies and procedures
• Participates in interdisciplinary meetings to promote and ensure adjustment and continuity of patient/individual care programs
• Responds to emergencies
• May make recommendations on policies and standards
• May prepare reports or correspondence
• May serve as Qualified Intellectual Disability Professional (QIDP)
• Performs related duties as required
• Independently develops, implements and evaluates nursing and/or health care plans
• Provides nursing consultation in the assigned specialty program
• Conducts nursing assessments
• Provides admission and discharge nursing assessments including plans for continuing care
• Maintains records and makes reports
• Provides for nursing services to comply with intermediate care facility (ICF) regulations and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standards
• Maintains records of stored and secured medications
• Independently manages and provides direct care to patients/individuals
• Participates in individual, group or family therapy
• Participates as a member of an interdisciplinary team in the assessment, development, implementation and evaluation of patient/individual treatment or health care plans
• Manages an assigned caseload of other appropriate clinical activities
• Provides clinical direction and/or training to staff in individual, group and family service delivery programs
• May participate in home visits and crisis intervention
• May provide in-service training to nursing and paraprofessional staff with regard to signs and symptoms of illness, dysfunction, injury and prevention of same
• May conduct patient/individual- centered conferences with nursing personnel
• May consult with and make recommendations to physicians concerning health needs
• Independently provides counseling and health education services to students and staff
• Serves as member of crisis intervention team
• Provides assessment of medical problems
• Determines need for physician or medical care
• Performs basic evaluative procedures and tests
• Performs primary first aid
• Ensures that controlled drugs are properly stored
• Makes referrals and follows up on health needs
• Provides counseling on health- related issues
• Maintains accurate medical records
• Writes reports
• May administer medication
• May administer routine tests or exams

Benefits

• State Employee Benefits Overview
• Professional growth and paid professional development opportunities.
• A healthy work-life balance to all employees!
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness employer
• Each Registered Nurse who is permanently assigned to the second or third shift shall receive a “recruitment and retention” yearly bonus of three thousand dollars ($3,000.00). This bonus shall be prorated for part-time. In order to be eligible for this bonus, the employee must have completed one year of service in the registered nurse classification.

What This Job Offers

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