Registered Nurse 4 (Public Health Emergency Response Nurse)

State of Louisiana•New Orleans, LA

About The Position

The Louisiana Department of Health seeks a Registered Nurse 4 to support public health emergency preparedness and response across Louisiana. The role leads and coordinates emergency preparedness activities, supports disease surveillance, and collaborates with healthcare providers, parish emergency management partners, and other response personnel during disasters and public health emergencies. Duties include statewide fieldwork and services beyond the employee’s domicile parish, and may require frequent travel. The position helps develop and implement regional emergency response plans, supports investigations and mass immunization programs, provides nursing guidance, trains staff and community members, maintains volunteer and employee preparedness records, and serves as a liaison among health units, healthcare providers, and emergency response partners. The nurse may serve in incident command and emergency operations roles, provide professional nursing care and surveillance during emergencies, and support responses to natural disasters, infectious disease outbreaks, environmental exposures, and other public health threats. The appointment may be a temporary job appointment lasting up to 48 months.

Requirements

Possess a current Louisiana Registered Nurse license, a temporary permit, or a multistate license issued by a Nursing Licensure Compact (NLC/eNLC) state to practice as a registered nurse.
Meet one of the following experience or education pathways: two years of experience as a licensed registered nurse; a bachelor's degree in nursing and one year of licensed registered nurse experience; a master's degree in nursing or public health and one year of licensed registered nurse experience; or a doctorate in nursing or public health.
Maintain CPR certification and nursing licensure.

Responsibilities

Assist with special investigations and mass immunization programs, clinics, and drills.
Attend mandatory team training, including Weapons of Mass Destruction and bioterrorism training.
Help develop, plan, coordinate, and implement the regional Emergency Response Plan.
Plan with parish emergency response partners for public health and bioterrorism threats and provide medical or nursing guidance as needed.
Help construct and implement regional all-hazards plans, including Strategic National Stockpile distribution and pandemic plans.
Prepare After Action Reports and Improvement Plans following emergency response activities.
Maintain disaster assignments for staff and use web-based communication systems as needed.
Credential, update, and maintain the regional Emergency Systems for Advanced Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) or LAVA.
Update and maintain employee training records in Workforce Development and web-based systems.
Inform and educate staff about training related to emergency preparedness, infectious diseases, and other public health topics.
Conduct community outreach, promote emergency preparedness, and recruit LAVA volunteers.
Educate and train clinical staff on emergency preparedness and educate nonmedical employees and community members about public health issues and preparedness.
Serve as a liaison between health units and healthcare providers and keep community partners informed of public health threats.
Serve on the regional Rapid Response Team and Incident Response Team.
Respond to emergencies and public health threats, including natural disasters, foodborne and infectious illnesses, environmental exposures, and outbreaks.
Assist with infectious disease and bioterrorism surveillance and coordinate with the regional epidemiologist and local hospital infection-control personnel as needed.
Serve as Operations Chief in the command structure during regional EOC activation and as an Office of Public Health liaison to local parish EOCs as needed.
Provide professional nursing care, leadership, and surveillance in response to community emergencies.
Plan and collaborate with emergency response personnel on staffing and deployment for Medical Special Needs Shelters, bioterrorism preparedness, bus triage, and other public health responses to weapons of mass destruction.
Maintain CPR certification and nursing licensure and perform additional duties needed to support agency operations.
Supervise, educate, and provide professional nursing care in response to emergencies and public health or bioterrorism threats on a 24-hour basis, statewide.
Perform other duties assigned by the supervisor.