Advanced Practice Registered Nurse for Healthcare for the Homeless Network - COVID Response APNS

Summary
This role is a part of the Public Health’s Community Services Division COVID19 Homelessness Response.  The Advanced Practice Nurse Specialist (APNS) will provide clinical quality leadership for its HEART Covid-19 Testing team and will support the testing team’s visits to sites where people who are currently or formerly living homeless. In particular, this position will help lead public health’s response with encampment sites which are located across King County and help to facilitate the collaborative response with the Environmental Health Division, Communicable Disease/Epidemiology section, the Department of Community and Human Services and with partners in the homeless services community. 
 

Work Schedule:  This position is a fully benefited, 1.0 FTE that is overtime eligible and typically works Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. This position may require work outside these hours and days to meet operational needs.

 


Contact: If you have questions regarding this position, please contact Amy Curtis, BSN, RN, Healthcare Recruitment Specialist at amy.curtis@kingcounty.gov
 

Commitment to Equity and Social Justice:
As the only jurisdiction in the world named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the most influential civil rights leaders in our nation's history, King County is a vibrant international community with residents that represent countries from around the world. It is a region with increasing diversity that cherishes the traditions of many cultures.

We have a deep commitment to equity and social justice and advancing practices, strategies, and policies that promote fairness, justice, and opportunity for all – in our workplaces and our communities. With this commitment, King County has adopted a pro-equity agenda to advance regional change and ensure that residents from vulnerable communities are incorporated into our emergency planning and public outreach efforts.

Applicants should be committed to working with diverse populations throughout King County to provide excellent customer service to a broad range of cultures, in accordance with the King County Equity and Social Justice Ordinance and the King County Strategic Plan.



Primary Duties

• Plan, coordinate and train staff to provide Covid-19 testing among people living homeless at locations including shelters and encampments throughout King County.  Assure clinical quality standards are established and adhered to by deployed testing teams.

• Establish and nurture partner relationships through close communication with relevant community-based and outreach partners such as REACH, United Gospel Mission and Seattle Indian Health Board as well as others.  Seek and include partner input to refine both the proactive and reactive testing strategy and prioritization.

• Assure the Covid-19 testing team’s approach is aligned with the “Unsheltered Strategy.” This means assuring the principles, priorities, and approaches to testing in encampments fits within the overall unsheltered strategy. This includes close coordination with internal work teams such as, the Disease Investigation team, the Isolation and Quarantine team, and the Public Information Call Center
• Design practice and protocols for Covid-19 testing within a homeless encampment. Schedule Covid-19 testing events, maintain an accurate calendar and identify staffing needs. The role may include going to the testing event to act as observer, complete paperwork and/or identify opportunities for continuous quality improvement. Develop standard process with clear roles and responsibilities to assure test results can be provided over weekend.  Include how to discuss positive test results with agencies and patients..
• Coordinate testing events to assure testing is desired and feasible at given locations and efforts are coordinated and communicated with other testing partners.  Assure alignment of standard practices and protocols across partners including when and how to share information.  Assure HEART support is made available at encampments when positive cases are identified.
• Understand and contribute to the partner prioritization process established by CHS and our partners.  This will include using the equity tool, understanding the readiness of partners to apply a community proactive strategy, mapping testing events, assure encampment list and information is accurate.  Engage CHS leadership as necessary when applying criteria for site selection/prioritization.
• Document the lessons learned and identify and implement process improvements for testing events.  Establish and refine processes for data flows of proactive and responsive testing with internal data partners.  Elevate system issues encountered in encampment testing/support to appropriate public health leadership and teams.
• Initiate and lead case conference when positive cases are identified. This includes coordinating with public health teams, cities and other county agencies to work with encampments and unsheltered efforts (e.g. coalitions around support for people living outside) about encampment cases.
• Coordinate logistical support to help  manage and support outreach supplies and plan for future supply orders (testing supplies and outreach supplies

Additional Duties:

• Assure response efforts meet the needs of the people living homeless population by assuring practices such as Trauma-Informed Care, harm reduction, and patient-centered care are consistently employed through a lens of racial equity.
• Participate in various planning activities at the program and community level, e.g., participating in community work groups and collaborating with program managers and contracts manager, to advance COVID homelessness response activities.
• Write guidance and prepare briefs and presentations related to best and promising practices for adapting care for people living homeless at risk for COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.

 

Required Qualifications:

• Willing to provide pregnancy options counseling.
• Washington State Registered Nurse License in good standing.
• Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited school of nursing.
• Proof of Current BLS CPR Certification for Healthcare Providers (Please attach if current.)
• Washington State Driver's License
• Ability to travel within the designated territory

Desired Qualifications:

• •  
• Master's degree in nursing or public health and/or BSN with extensive training and experience in a relevant specialty area of nursing
• Advanced knowledge of care delivery to individuals experiencing homelessness;
• Advanced knowledge of public health nursing process and principles, including needs assessment process at the systems and community level;
• Demonstrated skill and experience in quality improvement activities in a health care setting;
• Demonstrated skill and experience in community organization and coalition building strategies and techniques;
• Advanced Knowledge of health promotion and disease prevention principles as well as data analysis and display techniques;
• Demonstrated skill and experience in developing and delivering training presentations to audiences at all levels of familiarity with disease prevention, service delivery, population characteristics and models of care;
• Knowledge of Washington State law relating to nursing care (WAC 18.79) and federal health care regulations and professional ethics related to delivery of nursing and allied health services;
• Demonstrated experience and skill in multicultural and interdisciplinary coalition building

Supplemental Information:

• The selection process may include but is not limited to: evaluation of application materials and supplemental questions, interviewing, and references. For more information on our selection process, please refer to http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/jobs.aspx
• Public Health relies on office automation (Microsoft Office) and web-based enabled tools, therefore candidates must be proficient and comfortable with computer use to perform functions associated with on-going work.
• Regular and reliable attendance, effective communication skills, and development of effective working relationships are requirements of all Public Health positions.
• Staff may be required to play an active role in the event of a public health emergency, which may include changes in responsibilities and working hours.

 

• Employees are required to protect the privacy and security of protected health information as defined in State and Federal Law
• The selected candidate will be required to pass a thorough background investigation. Public Health Nurses who provide direct services in Community Health Services under a DSHS service agreement will go through background checks every three years.
• Employees are required to adhere to OSHA/WISHA guidelines including but not limited to completing their mandatory trainings on time.

UNION AFFILIATION: This position is represented by the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA)