Registered Nurse (RN) - Public Health
Gaston County, NC
Gastonia, NC

Public Health Nurse II

Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play. While a doctor treats people who are sick, those of us working in public health try to prevent people from getting sick or injured in the first place. We also promote wellness by encouraging healthy behaviors. The duties listed below are not all of the duties that may be assigned but are those that are considered as essential for an employee to perform. * Clinic Duties:  Utilizes the Nursing Process to assess, interview, triage, educate and implement the plan of care. Examples: complete vital signs, interviews, and patient / family education.  Administers immunizations per CDC guidelines to adults and children; documents vaccine administration in NCIR. Assists with vaccine inventory, storage and handling for all locations. Assists with procedures and provides treatments per clinic guidelines.  Reviews encounter accuracy. Leadership: Role models positive teamwork and professional communication. Referrals: make appointments for needed services as per orders, contact client / parents via phone or mail to advise of recommended plan of care, document in client record per policy. Quality Assurance / Quality Improvement:  Participates in program audits. Collaborates and communicates with co-workers, medical providers, supervisor, PHS Management, and other departments to ensure best practices within the department.  Provides input and feedback to the supervisor regarding policies and procedures and clinic operations. Position will mainly be at Highland Health Center but will rotate to other sites as needed and will provide nursing services in the community at community-based clinics and/or mobile clinics. Other clinical duties as assigned.  * Assigned Follow-Up: Nursing team members will be assigned specific tasks by Nursing Supervisor or Charge Nurse to assure that contract addenda requirements and clinic specific needs are met.  Examples: medication & LARC ordering and inventory, weekly AED monitoring, daily immunization refrigerator temperature monitoring, and other miscellaneous tasks as needed. * Triage: Follow-up with patient calls, assess problems, provide medical advice, schedule appointments, assess and triage walk-in patients based on established procedures, protocols and standing orders; consults provider as indicated. * Education:  Participates in yearly competence activities for PHS Division staff. Participates in in-services, trainings and meetings. Serves as a preceptor to new staff. Completes required competencies per NC Board of Nursing to ensure compliance with nursing license. * Disaster Response:  Assists the community during emergencies such as natural disasters, pandemics or bio-terrorism events by delivering services in the field as needed. Participates in staffing emergency shelter, administering vaccinations to the community and providing nursing care to assure community safety. * Carryout Performance Management (PM) roles and responsibilities, including identifying and communicating performance improvement opportunities and adjusting performance and practice to achieve established PM goals. * Attends all mandatory agency meetings and trainings. Implements strategies aimed at achieving Health Equity, including but not limited to: attending trainings to better understand inequities, identifying and addressing barriers to health, serving on the Health Equity Team or its subcommittees, engaging in internal or extrnal efforts to eliminate health disparities. Graduation with a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing which included a Public Health Rotation; OR graduation from an accredited school of  nursing and one (1) year of professional nursing required. No previous experience required for Bachelor's Degree Nurses. For Associates Degree or Diploma in Nursing, one year of professional nursing experience required. Current State of North Carolina RN License; Valid CPR Certification; Valid vehicle operator's license A COPY OF YOUR RN LICENSE AND CPR CERTIFICATION MUST BE ATTACHED TO YOUR APPLICATION. FAILURE TO ATTACH THESE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS MAY RESULT IN YOUR APPLICATION BEING REJECTED.Applicants with less than 5 years of applicable experience will start at 25% of the salary range. The applicant selected must undergo a criminal background check and pass a drug screening test prior to employment