Job Description

Essential Functions Statement(s)

• Makes initial assessment visit utilizing observation/assessment skills
• Manages medical illness per Plan of Care; performs psycho-biological interventions
• Evaluates, teaches and reviews medications and compliance; administers IM or IV medication
• Manages situational or other crises; performs assessments of potential self-harm or harm to others, and refers to the treating physicians as necessary
• Teaching and training activities that require skilled nursing personnel to teach a patient, the patient's family, or caregivers how to manage the treatment regimen would constitute skilled nursing services.
• Teaches self-care, mental and physical well-being, promotes independence and patient’s rights In determining the reasonable and necessary number of teaching and training visits, consideration must be given to whether the teaching and training provided constitutes reinforcement of teaching provided previously in an institutional setting or in the home or whether it represents initial instruction. Where the teaching represents initial instruction, the complexity of the activity to be taught and the unique abilities of the patient are to be considered. Where the teaching constitutes reinforcement, an analysis of the patient's retained knowledge and anticipated learning progress is necessary to determine the appropriate number of visits. Skills taught in a controlled institutional setting often need

o to be reinforced when the patient returns home. Where the patient needs reinforcement of the institutional teaching, additional teaching visits in the home are covered. Re-teaching or retraining for an appropriate period may be considered reasonable and necessary where there is a change in the procedure or the patient's condition that requires re-teaching, or where the patient, family, or caregiver is not properly carrying out the task. The medical record should document the reason that the reteaching or retraining is required and the patient/caregiver response to the education.

• Promotes and encourages patient/caregiver to maintain a therapeutic environment
• Provides supportive counseling psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic interventions according to education and licensure. Provides psycho-education such as teaching/training with disease process, symptom and safety management, coping skills and problem solving
• Provides evaluation and management of the patient's care plan
• Counseling services may be rendered by either a trained psychiatric nurse or a social worker. These services should not be duplicative. Concurrent counseling or psychotherapy services by multiple providers are not medically necessary

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

• Competency Statement(s)
• Active Listening - Ability to actively attend to, convey, and understand the comments and questions of others.
• Applied Learning - Ability to participate in needed learning activities in a way that makes the most of the learning experience.
• Assertiveness - Ability to act in a self-confident manner to facilitate completion of a work assignment or to defend a position or idea.
• Empathetic - Ability to appreciate and be sensitive to the feelings of others.
• Ethical - Ability to demonstrate conduct conforming to a set of values and accepted standards.
• Research Skills - Ability to design and conduct a systematic, objective, and critical investigation.
• Tactful - Ability to show consideration for and maintain good relations with others.
• Accountability - Ability to accept responsibility and account for his/her actions.
• Organized - Possessing the trait of being organized or following a systematic method of performing a task.
• Analytical Skills - Ability to use thinking and reasoning to solve a problem.
• Communication, Oral - Ability to communicate effectively with others using the spoken word.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

Psychiatrically Trained Nurses Providing Psychiatric Evaluation And Therapy In The Home: Psychiatrically trained nurses are nurses who have special training and/or experience beyond the standard curriculum required for a registered nurse. The services of the psychiatric nurse are to be provided under a plan of care established and reviewed by a physician.

• Special training and/or experience requirements to be met, if the registered nurse (RN) meets one of the following criteria: a. A RN with a Master’s degree with a specialty in psychiatric or mental health nursing and licensed in the state where practicing would qualify.
• The RN must have nursing experience (recommended within the last three years) in an acute treatment unit in a psychiatric hospital, psychiatric home care, psychiatric partial hospitalization program or other outpatient psychiatric services
• A RN with a Bachelor’s degree in nursing and licensed in the state where practicing would qualify. The RN must have one year of recent nursing experience (recommended within the last three years) in an acute treatment unit in a psychiatric hospital, psychiatric home care, psychiatric partial hospitalization program or other outpatient psychiatric services .
• A RN with a Diploma or Associate degree in nursing and licensed in the state where practicing would qualify. The RN must have two years of recent nursing experience (recommended within the last three years) in an acute treatment unit in a psychiatric hospital, psychiatric home care, psychiatric partial hospitalization program or other outpatient psychiatric services.
• It is highly recommended that psychiatric RNs also have medical/surgical nursing experience because many psychiatric patients meet homebound criteria due to a physical illness.