Public Health Nurse Senior

Virginia Information Technologies Agency • Accomac, VA

2d • $80,262 - $87,006

About The Position

The Eastern Shore Health District serves Northampton and Accomack counties. Its mission is to prevent illness and disease, protect the environment, and promote optimal health and emergency preparedness for everyone on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The Public Health Nurse Senior supports the State and District visions, missions, and goals through program leadership, community engagement, and direct patient care. The role may include communicable disease surveillance and investigation, outbreak response, emergency epidemiology response, specimen collection, and vaccination services for children and adults.

The position promotes public health awareness and prevention through community screenings, mass clinics, programs, and events, and works with community groups, employers, committees, task forces, and service partners. It contributes to community health assessment and improvement planning, including evaluating data collection methods. The nurse provides direct care and case management in clinics, homes, schools, and community settings, independently conducts nursing assessments, and plans services that account for cultural perceptions and the needs of diverse populations.

The role requires Virginia RN licensure and Basic Life Support (BLS)/CPR certification. Travel may be required, and some evening or weekend hours may be necessary. Employment is contingent on satisfactory background and related checks.

Requirements

• Current licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN) in Virginia.
• Certification in Basic Life Support (BLS)/CPR.
• Ability to be fit tested and to perform fit testing for other staff in accordance with the OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR 1910.134).
• Experience functioning in a leadership role.
• Ability to work independently in home, clinic, community, and school settings and prioritize workload.
• Sound nursing judgment and effective verbal, written, interpersonal, and physical assessment skills.
• Ability to enter, review, and analyze data and statistics and produce reports or recommendations; ability to work in a fast-paced, data-driven environment.
• Knowledge and experience of the nursing process, health maintenance, disease processes, physical and behavioral sciences, case management, and basic epidemiology.
• Ability to work effectively as a member of a multidisciplinary health care team.
• Knowledge and experience using computers and applications, including the Internet, Microsoft Office, and Google Mail.
• Experience working with diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Excellent communication, data interpretation, and computer skills.
• Decision-making, teaching, interviewing, and counseling skills, and the ability to analyze and solve problems.
• Ability to travel; some evening or weekend hours may be required.

Nice To Haves

• Public health experience.
• For work with the epidemiology response team, Certified in Infection Control (CIC) certification is preferred.
• For work with the epidemiology response team, experience in hospital or long-term-care-facility infection control is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Support State and District visions, missions, goals, policies, and procedures; develop policies and plans that support individual and community health.
• Apply patient confidentiality, human-subject protection, research ethics, and ethical standards of practice to public health work and interactions.
• Monitor VEDSS, ESSENCE, and other epidemiology technology as required to identify trends and outbreaks; participate in vaccine-preventable illness response and, as needed, collect specimens or administer vaccinations to children and adults.
• Serve as a key member of the emergency epidemiology response team when required and assist the local emergency planner with outbreaks and other all-hazards incidents.
• Conduct or assist with communicable disease investigations and outbreak response in schools, the community, nursing facilities, and other congregate-care settings; may serve as the district’s nursing subject-matter expert on communicable disease.
• Promote public health awareness, risk reduction, and prevention through community screenings, mass clinics, programs, and events.
• Meet with community groups, employers, committees, and task forces as a community liaison to promote public health awareness, risk reduction, and resource development.
• Identify and participate in community activities that increase public knowledge of available services.
• Support community health assessment and improvement planning through partnerships, locality information, and assessment of data collection methods.
• Support delivery of community health services to community groups and partners.
• Provide direct patient care and case management in clinics, homes, and the community.
• Independently conduct nursing assessments and administer patient care in clinic, school, and community settings.
• Plan health-service delivery that integrates cultural perceptions of health and disease and addresses the needs of culturally diverse populations.
• Enter, review, and analyze data and statistics and produce reports or recommendations as appropriate.

Benefits

• 12 paid holidays.
• Medical insurance.
• Dental insurance.
• Vision insurance.
• Life insurance.
• Retirement plans, including a 401a Cash Match and 457 Deferred Compensation Plan.
• Sick leave.
• Family/personal leave.
• Annual leave.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed