The Clinical TMS Nurse Treater is a Nurse 2 requirement. The primary responsibility of the Clinical TMS Nurse Treater is to provide transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment and coordinate patient's care during therapy. This position is essential to CBH Services at the Butler VA Healthcare. All activities of the incumbent are dedicated to patients with mental health problems and the mental health care team.

Duties

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Nurse Total Rewards Major Duties: The Clinical TMS Nurse Treater is a stable and reliable point of contact for both Veteran patients and providers and provides oversight of the patient's journey through the TMS treatment continuum, ensuring that all steps in the process are scheduled, timely and completed, while tracking the patient's overall TMS treatment plan. The activities of the incumbent will ensure a Veteran-centric service, increasing patient safety and patient satisfaction while providing a reliable treatment process that will enhance quality of care and treatment. The incumbent will display a cooperative attitude and will effectively work with others to implement the mission and goals of Mental Health Services. The Clinical TMS Nurse Treater must be aware of the array of neuromodulation techniques used practically in both in-patient and outpatient medical-surgical facilities. The incumbent must execute these techniques under adverse conditions in which the patient's condition may be highly variable. The position requires a steady and stable personality under stress. Patient responses and behaviors require instant reactions and the ability to recognize and change conditions to maximize patient performance and success. The incumbent is expected to be a long-term innovator, suggesting procedural changes and strategic moves based on acquired knowledge and trends procedures used for patient needs and their likely effect upon the results. The Clinical TMS Nurse Treater must be highly efficient at assessing deficits and strengths without undue emphasis upon handicap or dysfunction of patient who is experiencing a disturbance, impairment, disability, or illness. The Clinical TMS Nurse Treater is expected to demonstrate flexibility and willingness to adopt new clinical procedures in both neuropsychological and neuromodulation activities as directed by the TMS Program Supervisor (MD). This may involve adaptation of appropriate evidence-based practices. The incumbent must know the impact of instruction and patient response on reliability, validity, and other technical aspects of treatment results. The incumbent will be required to know and consult appropriate persons and resources in developing and refining test procedures and instructions in research applications. Administers TMS treatments under the supervision of the TMS Attending Provider; provides supervised daily operation of TMS Clinic devices. These operations include: starting the device; pre-setting head rest positions; placing the coil in the machine; attaching barrier protective covers as needed; observing equipment alarms during treatments; maintaining contact between the coil and patient's scalp to ensure effective treatment; correctly positioning the patient; safely assisting Veterans out of the TMS device following treatment; troubleshooting other common treatment delivery issues; and following and monitoring treatment doses as ordered, based on specific doses as prescribed by the TMS Attending Providers. Provides pre-treatment education for all interested Veterans and potential new patients. After the TMS Attending Provider has determined that a patient is clinically appropriate, has no contraindications, would benefit from TMS therapy, and has written the order for TMS therapy, the TMS Clinical Nurse Treater will provide procedure instructions to the patient. Identifies any significant changes prior to and during treatments. Some changes in the patient's condition require further evaluation. For example, the addition of certain medications (e.g., stimulants, Tricyclic Antidepressants, first generation antipsychotics, etc.) may alter cortical excitability, which could increase the risk of experiencing a seizure during treatment. The incumbent will interface as needed with both internal and external entities on behalf of patient care and the development of the overall TMS program. Reasons for contacts include exchanging patient information to advance patient TMS care, obtaining technical and safety data for training and education purposes, scheduling appointments, informing referring professionals and teams about patient behaviors or conditions, contacting security, and engaging in research-related objectives.

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. Graduate of a school of professional nursing approved by one of the following accrediting bodies at the time the program was completed by the applicant: The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) or The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The approving official may authorize a waiver of the requirement for ACEN or CCNE accreditation of any degree in nursing provided the college or university has regional accreditation from an accrediting body recognized by the Department of Education at the time of the candidate's graduation and the composite qualifications of the applicant warrant such consideration. In cases of graduates of foreign schools of professional nursing, possession of current, full, active and unrestricted registration will meet the requirement of graduation from an approved school of professional nursing. OR The completion of coursework equivalent to a nursing degree in a MSN Bridge Program that qualifies for professional nursing registration constitutes the completion of an approved course of study of professional nursing. Students should submit the certificate of professional nursing to sit for the NCLEX to the VA along with a copy of the MSN transcript. (Reference VA Handbook 5005, Appendix G6) OR In cases of graduates of foreign schools of professional nursing, possession of a current, full, active and unrestricted registration will meet the requirement for graduation from an approved school of professional nursing. Current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a graduate professional nurse in a State, Territory or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico) of the United States, or the District of Columbia. Grade Determinations: The following criteria must be met in determining the grade assignment of candidates, and if appropriate, the level within a grade: Nurse I Level I - An Associate Degree (ADN) or Diploma in Nursing, with no additional nursing practice/experience required. Nurse I Level II - An ADN or Diploma in Nursing and approximately 1 year of nursing practice/experience; OR an ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a bachelor's degree in a related field with no additional nursing practice/experience; OR a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing (BSN) with no additional nursing practice/experience. Nurse I Level III - An ADN or Diploma in Nursing and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR an ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a Bachelor's degree in a related field and approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a BSN with approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Master's degree in nursing (MSN) or related field with a BSN and no additional nursing practice/experience. Nurse II - A BSN with approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a Bachelor's degree in a related field and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Master's degree in nursing or related field with a BSN and approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Doctoral degree in nursing or meets basic requirements for appointment and has doctoral degree in a related field with no additional nursing practice/experience required. Nurse III - Master's degree in nursing or related field with BSN and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Doctoral degree and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience. Note regarding MSN degrees: If your MSN was obtained via a Bridge Program that qualifies for professional nursing registration, a BSN is not required. Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G-6 Nurse Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VA Butler Healthcare 353 North Duffy Road Butler, PA 16001 US
• Name: Crystal Conrad
• Email: [email protected]