Public Health Nurse

Pottawatomie County•Westmoreland, KS

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Position is a 3 day per week position (24 hours) with full part-time benefits. Days are set each week – Monday, Tuesday and Friday. POSITION SUMMARY: Under the supervision of the Pottawatomie County Health Department Director and Assistant Director, the Public Health Nurse is a non-exempt position under FLSA. Primary responsibilities include providing public health nursing assessment and care, providing health education, monitoring health risks and communicable disease in the county, and promoting good health in Pottawatomie County.

Requirements

A high school diploma or GED, and graduation from an accredited School of Nursing.
Employee should be a Registered Nurse and be currently licensed to practice in the State of Kansas.
One year of similar or related experience is required.
Employee is expected to have acquired the necessary information and skills to perform the job reasonably well within six months to one year of employment.
A thorough knowledge of nursing assessment skills, procedures and immunization techniques and a working knowledge of mathematics is required.
The ability to operate medical equipment and phlebotomy with a high degree of accuracy is required.
Employee must be able to read and interpret patient charts, reports, policies and written instructions, and make proper referrals.
Excellent interpersonal relation and writing and oral communication skills are also required.
Employee must have good driving skills and a current Kansas driving license.
Employee must be able to read, analyze, and interpret common scientific and technical journals, financial reports, and legal documents.
Position requires the ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community.
Employee must be able to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
Person must possess the ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
Employee must have knowledge of the principles of community education and knowledge of the significance of disease prevention measures in the improvement of public health.
Employee must have knowledge of the social and economic forces in society that affect health.
Person must have the ability to plan and adapt education measures to persons of diverse cultural, socioeconomic and age groups.
Employee must have comprehensive knowledge of the principles of nursing practice with special emphasis on public health.
Person must have assessment skills with the ability to develop a plan of care to enhance a positive outcome for the client.
Employee must conform to HIPAA privacy regulation specific to the position held.
The employee creates and records protected health information (PHI).
The employee is only authorized to use the information for categories for work performance.
Disclosures are only allowed as necessary for treatment or to other providers/business associates or as required by law.
Access to PHI and information is only allowed for health care operations.
Problem solving is involved in this position. This employee encounters problems with complaints from clients, fluctuating workloads, communicating with problematic medical systems, helping client’s access health care and community services. Other problems often encountered are dealing with non-compliant clients and with severe socio-economic constraints of families.
Decision-making is a factor in this position. Decisions this employee may encounter include assessing client complaints and concerns, determining appropriate referral sources and providing accurate information to clients.

Responsibilities

Provides adult health screening/monitoring of chronic disease per protocol or doctor order
Conducts child health assessments as trained and assigned
Assists with child and adult immunizations and administers immunizations at clinics as trained and assigned
Performs direct nursing duties in public health programs as trained
Maintains and updates Communicable Disease Protocols provided by KDHE and develops local protocol to enhance disease investigation process
Conducts home visits to investigate disease or counsel clients with public health concerns or environmental hazards
Conduct home visits to high-risk families for education and risk reduction
Follows protocols and procedures for public health programs
Provides health education/materials to the general public and schools regarding health prevention
Assures that appropriate educational materials are displayed and available in health department and in community
Provides counseling, testing, treatment, and follow up for sexually transmitted diseases as trained
Performs toenail care per protocol as assigned
Conducts communicable disease investigation and provides follow-up recommendations to individual, physicians and family members for the control of disease as assigned and enter all the information into the Disease Reporting system within 10 working days of the report
Completes all paperwork required by KDHE regarding a reportable communicable disease and entering all disease in Disease Surveillance Reporting System within 10 working days of receiving report via mail, fax, lab, or phone
Enrolls clients in appropriate medical assistance programs and completes all paperwork, facilitating the referral
Coordinates the activities of the Pottawatomie County Traffic Safety Coalition/Safe Kids Chapter as assigned
Refers clients for further evaluation and/or treatment when necessary and document all information in electronic health record and electronic referral system
Maintains client records in organized concise manner, integrated with other health department records
Collaborates with other public and private health care providers to provide integrated, comprehensive services
Collects program data for use in community health assessment and planning
Provides and monitors TB drugs as assigned
Provides support for the health department preparedness coordinator as assigned
Performs supply inventory and data entry of information
Performs school screening as trained (vision, hearing, growth, scoliosis, immunization status)
Works with Volunteer organizations (ACS, ADA, MoD, United Way, Salvation Army, CERT Team,) in programming and support work
Procures and organizes brochures and other educational publications and audio-visual materials at the Health Department
Provides community education to groups, schools, and the public as needed. Develops and displays health exhibits at appropriate events, such as health fairs. Promotes events such as Great American Smoke Out and Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Promotes health department services such as flu shots, immunization clinics, and lead testing
Utilizes the media effectively to promote and educate the public
Performs other duties as deemed necessary or assigned