Mental Health Technician

Mount Sinai Medical Center•Miami Beach, FL

13d

About The Position

The Mental Health Technician provides basic psychiatric nursing care and assists with direct patient care, including personal hygiene, vital signs, measurements, blood glucose testing, treatments, and enemas. The technician observes and documents patients’ conditions and behavior, reports significant changes and medication side effects, and handles less complex clinical problems within the limits of their knowledge and authority. The role participates in interdisciplinary treatment planning and programming, organizes and facilitates individual and group therapy, education, training, leisure, and recreational activities, and collaborates with other disciplines. The technician maintains patient records and prepares behavioral and assessment summaries, communicates updates to the treatment team and families as applicable, identifies treatment needs, orients patients to unit activities, and maintains therapeutic communication. The technician helps maintain a safe therapeutic environment by conducting and documenting safety rounds, monitoring for suicide, homicide, or elopement behaviors, responding to codes, and following non-violent crisis intervention principles. Duties also include assisting with seclusion and restraint care, patient transport and discharge, belongings inventories, package checks, recognizing withdrawal symptoms, attending departmental meetings and in-service programs, and performing other assigned work. The position is a night shift from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Requirements

At least 1 year of experience caring for mentally ill and emotionally disturbed adult patients.
CPR certification required.
Non-Violent Crisis Intervention Certificate required within 90 days of employment.
High school diploma or equivalent preferred.

Nice To Haves

Behavioral Health Technician certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide basic psychiatric nursing care, including taking and documenting vital signs, weight, height, and abdominal girth; assist with personal care and hygiene, blood glucose testing, treatments, and enemas.
Observe and document patients’ conditions and behavior, and report significant changes and observed medication side effects to the appropriate authority.
Handle less complex clinical problems within the limits of knowledge and authority.
Participate in interdisciplinary meetings and assist with developing, implementing, evaluating, revising, and documenting treatment plans.
Provide feedback on patient responses, problems, and progress, and suggest alternative plans for patients considered inappropriate for typical groups.
Organize, schedule, and facilitate individual and group therapy, education, training, leisure, and recreational activities.
Collaborate with other disciplines to facilitate programming activities.
Maintain and update patient records and prepare behavioral and assessment summaries concerning patients’ problems and progress.
Confer with the treatment team and patients’ families, as applicable, to provide observation reports and updates.
Meet with patients to identify treatment needs, orient them to unit programming, maintain therapeutic communication, and provide redirection or reality reorientation as needed.
Take psychiatric histories at admission and assist with ongoing treatment.
Maintain a safe therapeutic environment and perform and document patient safety rounds and room checks according to unit policy.
Monitor for suicide, homicide, and elopement behaviors and report them to the RN immediately; respond calmly and professionally to codes.
Use non-violent crisis intervention principles when dealing with aggressive patients; assist with seclusion and restraint and observe suicide and seclusion precautions.
Provide care to patients in seclusion or restraint.
Assist with patient transport, transfer, and discharge, including care of personal property and labeling; accompany patients to Baker Act court as necessary.
Inventory patient belongings upon admission and document the inventory; check packages brought by visitors and advise the RN if contraband is found.
Recognize signs and symptoms of alcohol or other substance withdrawal and report them to the RN.
Attend at least 75% of scheduled departmental meetings and in-service programs.
Perform other work as assigned.