The Registered Nurse - Outpatient Mental Health is responsible to the Program Manager of the Mental Health Outpatient Clinic. The Outpatient Mental Health nurse is responsible and accountable for all elements of the nursing process when providing and/or supervising direct patient care. Assesses, plans, implements, and evaluates care based on age-specific components.

Duties

VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Nurse Total Rewards The Outpatient Mental Health registered nurse executes position responsibilities that demonstrate leadership, experience, and creative approaches to management of complex patient care. The Outpatient Mental Health registered nurse is an experienced nurse with a large scope of knowledge and skill, who can grasp each situation and focus in on the accurate area of the problem without consideration of a range of unfruitful, alternative diagnoses and solutions. The Outpatient Mental Health registered nurse demonstrates performance and leadership that is broad enough to improve the care for a group of residents. The Outpatient Mental Health setting is open during administrative business hours and provides psychiatric services to Veterans. The population served includes outpatients with a variety of medical and psychiatric diagnoses, such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, Substance use disorders and others.. Residents range in age from 18 to frail elderly. The nurse provides skilled nursing care that includes medical/psychiatric nursing care, facilitation of patient education and therapeutic programming. Specialized rehabilitation and evaluation is applied on an ongoing, systematic manner to all patients. Registered nurses are actively involved in providing, developing, and facilitating patient education. Staff is expected to be skilled in Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior (PMDB), de-escalation interventions, Suicide risk assessment, group process and leadership and education of patients to assist them in returning to a higher level of health and well-being. On a daily basis, all registered nurses in this position are expected to perform the usual and customary duties of an outpatient nurse including but not limited to physical and mental health assessment, administration of ordered outpatient injections, assisting with the Veterans who are managed on Clozaril, management of VISN 12 messages and Secure messages and general nursing management of the outpatients physical and emotional well-being. The registered nurse utilizes phone contacts, VA Video Connect (VVC) appointments and in person appointments for the delivery of care to the outpatient population. The registered nurse works closely with their assigned Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) team to support and provide care to the Veterans on an outpatient basis. Pay: Competitive salary, regular salary increases, potential for performance awards Paid Time Off: 50 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Licensure: 1 full and unrestricted license from any US State or territory Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: Not Available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. 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. Preferred Experience: Mental Health Experience 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. Physical Requirements: Walking, bending, stooping, and some lifting in the direct care of patients. There may also be extended periods of sitting.

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 Tomah VA Medical Center 500 East Veterans Street Tomah, WI 54660 US
• Name: Courtney Rozek
• Phone: 608-633-9733
• Email: [email protected]