Senior Clinical Nurse, Medical Asset Support Team (O-5 Billet) Non-Supervisory - External

This position supports nursing staff, advances nursing practices, and contributes to the IHSC Health Care Mission. Their duties include providing direct patient care at various IHSC facilities, offering clinical and administrative nursing support, and collaborating with the IHSC Chief Nurse in the Nursing Services Unit to implement initiatives aimed at enhancing clinical nursing care across IHSC. This position is only open to USPHS officers and Call to Active Duty (CAD) candidates.

PROFESSIONAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Understanding theories, concepts, principles, and their relationships underlying the practices of professional nursing to improve the efficiency and quality of work performed or to protect the quality of life or healthcare services, as evidenced by the following: a. Knowledge of nursing care scope of practice, principles, and procedures in accordance with national, state, and local nursing laws and regulations. b. Maintains clinical professional skills via continuing education opportunities and in clinical practice daily as needed. c. Demonstrates/leads culturally competent care in all clinical areas, ensuring needed interpretation and/or translations services are available. d. The correctional registered nurse practices ethically per the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements (ANA, 2001). Applying a range and depth of knowledge acquired specifically through an intensive learning regimen of the phenomena, theories, and concepts of a scientific body of nursing knowledge, as evidenced by the following: a. Maintains in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of IHSC policies, IHSC National Formulary, IHSC Directives and Guides affecting nursing services, IHSC Clinical Nursing Guidelines, and national accreditation standards. b. Thorough knowledge of/ability to access/utilize/mentor staff regarding use of agency SharePoint to include directives, guides, training, tools and resources pertaining to the Nursing Services Unit. c. May be utilized as acting Nurse Manager (NM) during TDY assignments and may be providing guidance to meet the standards related to daily clinic processes and nursing processes for federal and contract nursing staff to include registered nurses (RNs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and certified nurse assistants. d. May assist the Health Service Administrators (HSA) in the absence of the NM, as a government technical monitors, with oversight of contract nursing staff to include registered nurses, licensed practical/vocational nurses, and certified nurse assistants on daily clinic processes during TDY assignments; and monitors nursing processes and provides guidance to meet the standards related to those processes. e. May assist the HSA (in the absence of the NM) by providing training and completing onsite review of nursing competencies during TDY assignments to ensure they are following IHSC policy; reviews and monitors findings and implements appropriate actions to support the safe delivery of nursing care. Creating, exploring, evaluating, designing, and sharing solutions and the validity of their predicted performance to resolve problems, conditions, and issues, as evidenced by the following: a. Adult learner teaching skills including the ability to communicate with strong written and oral skill noted during the performance of these duties: i. Ability to participate in/conduct staff meetings effectively on a local, regional, or national level. ii. Collaborates with site NM during TDY assignments and establishes clear goals and expectations regarding any needs for clinic training or review of nursing processes. iii. Providing on-site training that increases understanding of the policies and/or procedures that promote best practices in nursing, compliance with accreditation standards, and other nursing profession topics, or competency training in nursing procedures, such as wound care, intravenous access, medication and immunization administration, Basic Life Support, and other training pieces, based on appropriate knowledge and training; documenting training appropriately per IHSC policy or accreditation standards. iv. Assisting in the orientation of new healthcare and nursing personnel to guidelines, requirements, and the specifics of the patient population at the local site. v. Providing and documenting appropriate health teaching/counseling to provide reinforcement/guidance to minimize protocol deviations. vi. Communicating complex quality issues for nursing to site NM, Regional Nurse Manager (RNM) or Chief Nurse (CN) when support is needed. vii. Identification/collaboration with the site NM/RNM/CN regarding national process changes identified by unit chart reviews, nursing incident reports, Medical Quality Management Unit (MQMU) review/reports, and any corrective action plans that are needed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of nursing care delivery. viii. Attends and participates in general, medical, and Nursing Service Unit (NSU) meetings as scheduled. ix. Participating as a primary or supportive professional nursing mentor in regular one- on-one or group mentoring activities. x. Contributing support as NSU leadership by developing/presenting two approved nursing education in-services with evaluation criteria annually, or presenting three established training modules, develops/revises two patient education documents utilizing multiple learning styles; other duties as assigned.