Registered Nurse - Diabetes Educator

Veterans Health Administration • Des Moines, IA

7d • Onsite

About The Position

The Diabetes Educator is a Registered Nurse responsible for providing competent, evidence-based diabetes education to staff and patients throughout the medical facility. The role systematically evaluates current practice and formulates appropriate diabetes-related outcomes for patient groups and organizational processes within the educator’s area of expertise. The educator coordinates diabetes education focused on patient education, self-management, and customer satisfaction throughout the healthcare continuum, and acts as a consultant in diabetes care principles and performance measures.

The position collaborates with Clinical Nurse Educators, interprofessional healthcare teams, leadership, and unit managers on clinical education, staff training needs, competency assessment, and evaluations. It also contributes to quality improvement initiatives, reviews nursing literature and evidence-based research, and proposes practice or documentation revisions based on evaluated outcomes. The role is within the VA Midwest Health Care Network’s Whole Health System of care, which emphasizes personalized health plans, healing relationships and environments, and connection to the Veteran’s community.

Work schedule: Monday through Friday, 0800–1630. Compressed or flexible scheduling and telework are not available; this is not a virtual position. Relocation and recruitment incentives and permanent change of station are not authorized. Applicants must meet VA nursing education and licensure requirements, including current, full, active, unrestricted RN registration in a U.S. state or territory, and English proficiency. A pre-employment physical evaluation is required.

Requirements

• Current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a graduate professional nurse in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, or the District of Columbia.
• Graduate of an appropriately accredited school of professional nursing, or qualifying education and licensure pathway described in the announcement.
• Proficiency in basic written and spoken English.
• Meet the education and experience qualifications for the assigned VA nurse grade and level.
• Pass a pre-employment physical evaluation.
• U.S. citizenship is required, except that non-citizens may be appointed when qualified citizens cannot be recruited in accordance with VA policy.
• Comply with applicable pre-employment drug testing, background/security investigation, onboarding, identification, and seasonal influenza vaccination requirements.
• Males born after December 31, 1959, must meet Selective Service registration requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Currently holds or is working toward the required certification in diabetes education.

Responsibilities

• Provide and/or supervise staff and patient diabetes education, taking accountability for all elements of the nursing process.
• Assess, plan, implement, and evaluate diabetes education needs to support learner development and skills training.
• Use teaching strategies, assessment skills, and outcome evaluation to deliver diabetes education.
• Coordinate diabetes education focused on patient education, self-management, and customer satisfaction throughout the healthcare continuum.
• Follow established procedures, policies, and guidelines.
• Participate actively in department-level quality improvement processes, initiatives, and customer service programs.
• Collaborate with Clinical Nurse Educators and interprofessional healthcare teams on in-services, training, competency assessment, and evaluation of current and new staff nursing skills.
• Serve as a consultant on patient diabetes care principles and performance measures.
• Review current nursing literature and evidence-based research on diabetes trends and changes, and propose practice or documentation revisions based on outcome evaluations.
• Use best practices and benchmarking to establish realistic goals for patient diabetes care initiatives.
• Collaborate with leadership and unit managers to identify diabetes education training needs for staff.
• Take appropriate action to attain or maintain Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) certification.

Benefits

• 50 days of paid time off per year, comprising 26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, and 11 paid federal holidays.
• Traditional federal pension with five-year vesting.
• Federal 401(k), with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
• Federal health, vision, dental, term life, and long-term care insurance; many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement.
• Competitive salary, regular salary increases, and potential performance awards.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Associate degree