FACT RN (Gadsden and Wakully County)

Apalachee Center, Inc. is best known for helping individuals and families of North Florida succeed in recovering from emotional, psychiatric, and substance abuse crises. Apalachee Center, Inc. provides comprehensive behavioral health services across 8 counties (Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Taylor, and Wakulla Counties).

Apalachee Center, Inc. offers competitive benefits for our full-time positions to include health, dental, vision, basic life insurance, long term disability, paid time off, and more.

Overview:

Florida Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) is a dynamic multidisciplinary treatment team dedicated to delivering intensive community-based support to the severely mentally ill adult population. The purpose of FACT Registered Nurse is to be a part of the multidisciplinary treatment team designed to provides nursing services and case management to coordinate all aspects of care for the persons served. The primary goal of the RN is to optimize the functioning of clients who have complex medical needs and barriers to treatment by coordinating the provision of quality treatment and care for psychiatric, medical, and support services in the most efficient and effective manner. The RN performs patient care, including but not limited to: patient assessments; medication administration; monitoring of progress; service planning; crisis intervention; engages in health promotion, prevention, and education activities. The FACT Registered Nurse is also responsible for providing crisis intervention as appropriate and intervene using reasonable judgment to maintain client safety and prevent hospitalization.

ESSENTIAL/CORE JOB-SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Assessment:  Conducts comprehensive nursing assessments and ongoing assessments of persons served mental illness, symptoms, status, and response to treatment. Communicates client’s health status and history to the FACT team and helps the team to determine level of care based on client’s individual needs.  Attend and participate in the initial assessment for assigned clients in collaboration with the team within 60 days with all new clients, and updates required assessments in accordance with established guidelines. Collect collateral information (i.e. family and other providers, with appropriate consent) to complete thorough assessments of client’s need. Finalizes all documents in Avatar and turns in all assessments within 48 hours.

Individualized Treatment Team (ITT):  Attend and participate in the Individualized Treatment Team (ITT) meetings for assigned clients integrating medication administration tightly into the individual treatment plans.  Provide input and feedback (i.e. new issues, client response to treatment, client’s progress/lack of progress on service plan) to review clients’ progress and goals for the treatment plan with each client.

Services Delivery:   Assist clients on an individual, group, and family basis in the office and in community settings to teach EBP techniques to alleviate and manage symptoms not reduced with medications for both physical and mental health conditions to promote personal growth and development. Implements psychopharmacologic and medical treatment and medication policies and procedures, including transcribing, administering, evaluating, and recording psychotropic medications prescribed by the FACT psychiatrist/APRN in accordance with Agency policy/unit procedures. Serves as the backup Lead RN when the Lead RN is not available. Core services include:

• Coordinate, schedule, and administer comprehensive nursing and medical assessments
• Monitor and teach the management of physical health diagnosis. Make appropriate referrals to community physicians for further assessment and treatment
• Organize medications, medical supplies and the system of delivering medication to persons served.
• Evaluate and chart psychotropic medical effectiveness, complications and side effects and arrange for required lab work.
• Conduct “read back” process for each verbal order in accordance with Agency policy/unit procedures

Case Management Services:  Provide services using appropriate treatment modalities that promote independent living, including, but not limited to:  benefits counseling; problem solving, side-by-side services, skill training, supervision (e.g., prompts, assignment, monitoring, encouragement), and environmental adaptations to assist persons served with activities of daily living; assist and support persons served to carry out personal hygiene and grooming tasks; provide nutrition education, meal planning, grocery shopping, and food preparation assistance; assist persons served to find and maintain a safe and affordable place to live; assist and support persons served to perform household activities, including house cleaning and laundry; ensure that persons served have adequate financial support; teach money management skills; help persons served to access reliable transportation; and assist and support persons served to have and effectively use a personal physician and dentist.

Client Service Plan:  Develops individualized Client Service Plans (CSP) in partnership with the client and the client’s guardian (if applicable), especially with employment goals.  Develops CSP’s that include measurable goals and objectives derived from the client’s assessment and identifies time frames for achievement on goals which are signed and dated by the client and client’s guardian, if applicable. Assists with the implementation of the service plan, and follows-up with the client’s services to determine the status and the effectiveness of CSP towards enhancing the client’s inclusion in the community and autonomy. Updates CSPs at least every 6 months. Makes appropriate changes in CSP to ensure immediate and appropriate interventions are provided in response to changes in mental status or behavior which put persons served at risk (e.g., suicidality, hospitalizations, relapse). CSP must incorporate items obtained using enhancement funds and explain how it promotes client’s recovery goals.

Progress Notes:  Documents progress of persons served to maintain a permanent record of individual activity per established methods and procedures. Documentation must be finalized in Avatar within 48 hours from the time the services were rendered. Progress notes must be detailed and clearly reflect how the staff’s efforts are linked to the services and goals in the client’s service plan and the client’s progress or lack of progress relative to the service plan.