Job Description

Full job description

Public Health Nurse or Registered Nurse

Public Health

Dept/Div: Public Health FLSA Status: Non-Exempt

General Definition of Work

Performs intermediate professional work assessing the needs of people and the community, functioning as a professional within the Nurse Practice Act, assisting people to recognize, accept and adapt to health problems, increasing knowledge of health through education and health promotion counseling, providing direct nursing services, interacting and coordinating with formal and informal service providers, participating in community health planning, program implementation and evaluation, and related work as apparent or assigned. Work is performed under the general direction of the Public Health Supervisor.

Qualification Requirements

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable an individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The below listed statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and skills required of personnel so classified.

Essential Functions

• Performs initial and ongoing assessments and evaluations to determine the health status of individuals and families across the lifespan in their home, clinics and community settings; performs a variety of assessments to determine their risk, exposure and treatment options for a variety of health ailments and screenings including long term care consultation and personal care assistant assessments including: demographic data, physical condition, health history, medications, mental status, nutrition, environment, functional inventory financial screen, social and family dynamics.
• Identify health problems and make appropriate referrals to physicians, Human Services, and other community resources while facilitation access to health care.
• Summarizes and records assessment data; identifies areas of risk and vulnerability; develops plans for care including client and family service goals, potential problems and interventions.
• Develops and plans care in coordination with physicians, service providers, clients and family members. Coordinates services to monitor cost effectiveness, quality of care and safety of the patient and meeting their overall healthcare needs; provides case management and care coordination services.
• Provides ongoing evaluation of the individual/family health status, signs and symptoms of disease process, monitor progress towards goals, response to treatment and appropriateness of service.
• Provide nursing care and medical treatments, through independent decision-making, to individuals and families following professional standards and procedures within the Nurse Practice Act. Performs delegated medication functions. Assessment of vital signs, medication set up, and assessing compliance.
• Make referrals to appropriate providers, order equipment and supplies. Communicate with the physicians re: care plan.
• Send and receive service agreements from the contract providers for prior authorization.
• Preventative health education as required by health plans, including vitamin D and aspirin therapy.
• Maintain complete and accurate documentation which complies with the Data Practices Act and HIPAA to maintain client and record confidentiality. Documentation is subject to audit to assess compliance with extensive industry regulations, standards and contracts. Participate in record audits and quality assurance activities.
• Assist the Minnesota Department of Health and Regional Epidemiologist as directed with surveillance, investigation, treatment, follow-up and enforcement of communicable disease outbreaks within the county and in conjunction with other counties. Administers vaccines and medications per emergency preparedness plans as needed.
• Implement acute and chronic disease prevention and control measures i.e. immunization clinics, blood pressure and diabetic screening, immunizations and vaccinations. Administer immunizations and vaccinations according to protocols and standing orders signed by the Medical Director.
• Teach and collaborate with others in offering and developing health education programs for individuals and groups to increase knowledge and self-awareness about health and safety. Facilitate personal decision making re: healthy and positive lifestyle choices.
• Participate in agency staff meetings and assist with the education and training of nursing students, including arranging health education activities, practicing and maintain confidentiality, following universal precautions to prevent obtaining or spreading disease.
• Assesses and determines appropriate programs and services for clients; submits service agreements and prior authorizations to the state for reimbursement of services to providers.
• Provides WIC certifications, nutrition education and counseling; determines and assigns food prescription packages based on nutritional assessment; make referrals as appropriate.
• Participates and attends regular and irregular meetings, consultations and drills; acts as a member of the healthcare team, coordinating services with internal and external service providers; assists with the monitoring of grant and budget funds.
• Assists with keeping and generating specific service related records which complies with local, state and federal laws, rules, regulations and standards.
• Provides program coordination including assuring goals, objectives and ensuring grant responsibilities are met; evaluates, schedules, performs outreach and gives referrals or follow ups, monitors the budget; ensures compliance with related policies, procedures and local, state or federal laws and statutes; recommends changes to the supervisor.
• Provides ongoing needs assessment per the community health services plan.
• Complete dailies-continuous time study for the agency reporting according to activity and cost centers which generates claims and bills for services rendered.
• Participates in Continuous Quality Improvement (QI) and Performance Management (PM) activities; Works to achieve Health Equity by addressing the social determinants of health.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Thorough knowledge of local, state and federal public health laws, rules, ordinances, policies, procedures, manuals and regulations; thorough knowledge of the theory, principles and practices of general and preventive medicine; thorough knowledge of the techniques and best practices of working in a public health setting; thorough knowledge of the standard tools of the trade; thorough knowledge of the standard assessment and treatment tools available to public health nursing staff; thorough knowledge of the best practice nursing techniques; thorough knowledge of standard accounting software; thorough knowledge of standard recordkeeping and database systems; thorough knowledge of local maps and locations; thorough skill using standard office equipment and applicable hardware and software; thorough skill composing standard correspondence; thorough skill creating and maintaining applicable records for local, state and federal service requirements; thorough skill conducting health evaluations, assessments and giving treatment in the home, clinic or public setting; thorough skill working within standard state databases; ability to make arithmetic computations using whole numbers, fractions and decimals; ability to compute rates, ratios and percentages; ability to calculate and administer medications; ability to calculate client payment; ability to recognizes, understand and respect the differences of cultural, social and economic backgrounds and spiritual needs of clients; ability to plan, organize and prioritize workload; ability to respond to emergencies, disasters and difficult problem solving situations; ability to understand and convey medical information to clients verbally or in writing; ability to understand and apply governmental accounting practices in maintenance of financial records; ability to work with mathematical concepts and statistics; ability to solve problems within scope of responsibility; ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the staff, contractors, services providers, similar healthcare professionals, local businesses, the general public and other agencies.

Education and Experience

Public Health Nurse: Bachelor's degree in nursing, or related field and minimal experience working in a professional nursing role, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Registered Nurse: Associates/Technical degree in nursing, or related field and minimal experience working in a professional nursing role, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Bachelor's degree preferred.

Physical Requirements

This work requires the regular exertion of up to 10 pounds of force, frequent exertion of up to 50 pounds of force; work regularly requires speaking or hearing, using hands to finger, handle or feel, reaching with hands and arms and lifting, frequently requires standing, walking, sitting, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling and repetitive motions and occasionally requires climbing or balancing, tasting or smelling and pushing or pulling; work has standard vision requirements; vocal communication is required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word and conveying detailed or important instructions to others accurately, loudly or quickly; hearing is required to perceive information at normal spoken word levels and to receive detailed information through oral communications and/or to make fine distinctions in sound; work requires preparing and analyzing written or computer data, visual inspection involving small defects and/or small parts, using of measuring devices, operating machines, operating motor vehicles or equipment and observing general surroundings and activities; work frequently requires exposure to communicable diseases and occasionally requires wet, humid conditions (non-weather), exposure to fumes or airborne particles, exposure to toxic or caustic chemicals, exposure to outdoor weather conditions, exposure to extreme heat (non-weather), exposure to the risk of electrical shock, wearing a self contained breathing apparatus, exposure to bloodborne pathogens and may be required to wear specialized personal protective equipment and exposure to untamed animals; work is generally in a moderately noisy location (e.g. business office, light traffic).

Special Requirements

• Public Health Nurse Only: Public health nurse certification.
• CPR certification.
• Minnesota registered nurse license.
• Applicable training to obtain and maintain certifications will be provided.
• Ability to maintain certifications through ongoing education.
• Ongoing training to obtain specific public health and county knowledge will be provided.
• Driver’s license valid in the State of Minnesota.

Other Requirements

The incumbent may encounter not public data in the course of these duties. Any access to not public data should be strictly limited to accessing the data that are necessary to fulfill the employment responsibility. While data are being accessed, incumbent should take reasonable measures to ensure the not public data are not accessed by individuals without a work reason. Once the work reason to access the data is reasonably finished, incumbent must properly store the not public data according to the provisions Ch. 13. If a new work assignment requires access to not public data, the incumbent is permitted to access not public data for the work assignment purposes only. Any access to not public data must be strictly limited to the data necessary to complete the work assignment and after the assignment is completed, the employee’s work assignment no longer requires access.

Minimum Qualifications

• Public Health Nurse: Bachelor's degree in nursing, or related field and minimal experience working in a professional nursing role, or equivalent combination of education and experience OR Registered Nurse: Associates/Technical degree in nursing, or related field and minimal experience working in a professional nursing role, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Bachelor's degree preferred.

• CPR Certification.

• Driver’s license valid in the State of Minnesota.

• PHN or RN License.

Salary Range/Benefits : Starting wage for Registered Nurse is $30.40 per hour. Starting wage for Public Health Nurse is $32.23 per hour. Plus health insurance, life insurance, retirement plan, vacation/sick/holiday pay and many other voluntary benefits.

Contact information:

Sarah Pint

Le Sueur County Human Resources

88 S. Park Avenue, Le Center, MN 56057

Telephone: 507-357-8579 - Fax: 507-357-8607

Email:hr@lesueurcounty.gov

Deadline: Job open until filled. Reviewing applications November 22, 2024.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Job Tags

Hourly pay, Holiday work, Full time, Contract work, For contractors, Local area, Outdoor,

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