RN Behavioral Health / BH Crisis Assessment - Casual

Children's Hospital & Medical Center•Omaha, NE

23h

About The Position

Children’s Nebraska is hiring a casual Registered Nurse to care for patients with behavioral health needs as a member of an interdisciplinary team. The nurse uses the nursing process to provide comprehensive, developmentally appropriate care to high-risk behavioral patients and their families, and serves as a psychiatric resource for the care team. The role supports compliance with system policies, guidelines, documentation requirements, and regulatory standards, and helps maintain a safe environment. The nurse also responds to behavioral emergencies throughout the building and collaborates with the interdisciplinary team to promote patient and staff safety. The position involves age-specific patient and family assessment, development and revision of individualized plans of care, implementation and evaluation of nursing interventions, patient and family education, and accurate, timely documentation. The nurse supports staff caring for high-risk patients, reviews observation-related documentation and orders in EPIC, facilitates consistent application of safety guidelines, and assists with de-escalation and physical intervention when needed. The role also includes post-intervention debriefing and documentation audits, quality improvement activities, patient advocacy, protection of patient health information, and adherence to infection prevention practices.

Requirements

Associate's degree or bachelor's degree from an accredited school of nursing.
Registered Nurse state licensure and/or compact state licensure in Nebraska, required upon hire.
Basic Life Support certification through the American Heart Association, required upon hire.
Ability to manage varied and changing duties without loss of efficiency or composure and to perform under stressful conditions while prioritizing multiple requests.

Nice To Haves

Two years of psychiatric nursing experience.
Experience with pediatric patients.
Previous experience with EPIC.
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Certification (PMH-BC); preferred after two years and/or 2,000 mental health care hours. Team members currently ineligible for advanced certification are strongly encouraged to pursue it upon eligibility.

Responsibilities

Conduct individualized, age-specific patient and family assessments and reassessments, including identifying nursing diagnoses, collaborative problems, and protocols.
Communicate changes in patient condition to appropriate members of the care team and family as indicated.
Develop, coordinate, implement, evaluate, and revise individualized patient and family plans of care in collaboration with the Behavioral Health Team and family.
Prioritize nursing interventions and use clinical judgment and evidence-based guidelines to assess patient situations and responses to care.
Provide and coordinate patient and family education according to identified needs and readiness to learn.
Document assessments, evaluations, care-plan changes, interventions, patient responses, orders, and discharge instructions accurately and within established timeframes and hospital policy.
Support a safe environment by inspecting rooms, identifying hazards, and removing items that may pose risks to patients with high-risk behaviors.
Deliver nursing care to patients and families and provide behavioral health expertise, education, and timely clinical support to staff, administrative supervisors, and physicians.
Review EPIC documentation and orders with staff to ensure appropriate patient observation levels and accurate, complete documentation.
Identify patient care concerns in real time, collaborate and escalate concerns as needed, and help resolve them.
Educate the patient care team on constant visual observation guidelines, therapeutic interactions, patient safety, and related policies.
Identify and present opportunities for performance and quality improvement.
Assist with patient de-escalation and physical intervention when needed, document interventions thoroughly, participate in debriefings, and audit physical intervention documentation.
Collect, enter, and share physical intervention data in real time.
Advocate for patients and families and assist in resolving their concerns.
Protect and secure patient health information and follow infection prevention initiatives.