Maternal and Pediatric Nurse Home Visitor

Position Summary:

The Strong Families Vermont (SFVt) Nurse Home Visitor is responsible for providing comprehensive nursing services to women and their families eligible for SFVt services. Nurse home visitors are responsible for maintaining the highest standards in clinical nursing practice and adherence to the Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home (MECSH) model, and to policies, procedures, guidelines and standards. Grant funded position for one year at 32 hours weekly.

Position Overview:

• Provides home visits to women and their families eligible for the SFVt program
• Adheres to nursing process and the MECSH model of home visitation
• Carries a case load of 25 up to 30 clients
• Participates in community coalition in support of SFVt program, promotes public awareness, and develops and maintains community relationships to support client referrals

Principal Duties and Responsibilities (Essential Functions):

• Completes all required MECSH education and follows nursing process in implementing SFVT into nursing practice. Meets with Nurse Supervisor weekly for clinical supervision, attends and participates in weekly team meetings, quarterly case conferences and attends weekly regional Children’s Integrated Services (CIS) care coordination meetings
• Develops therapeutic relationships, utilize concepts of reflection and motivational interviewing with women and their families in a home visiting environment
• Performs home visiting in accordance with MECSH elements, assesses physical, emotional, social and environmental needs for themselves and their families
• Provides education, support and referral resources in assisting women and their families in establishing goals and outcomes and in attaining those goals
• Consults and collaborates with other professionals involved in providing services to women and families

Competencies:

• Stewardship – Demonstrates the careful and responsible management of resources, including financial, environmental, intellectual and material resources.
• People – Works collaboratively, departmentally and organizationally to achieve common goals. Seeks to understand others’ spoken and unspoken thoughts, feelings, and concerns by actively listening with compassion and respect. 
• Quality - Uses data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and use improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of health care delivery.
• Safety – Executes duties and maintains a psychosocially and physically safe and healthy environment, which promotes the safety and wellbeing for all employees and patients.

Physical Working Conditions:

• Ability to move intermittently throughout the workday
• Ability to cope with mental, emotional and physical stress of the position
• Able to crouch, stoop, twist, reach across, reach above and below waist level
• Walk, lift, carry and transfer patients
• Lift, push, pull or carry a minimum of 50 pounds and be able to move the weight a distance of five feet
• Carry and use all assessment tools necessary for the proper evaluation and treatment of patients
• Navigate stairs of varying heights and degrees
• Maintain balance during patient transfers and ambulation
• Must possess adequate eyesight for visual evaluation of patients
• Tolerate variances in air quality, including but not limited to temperature variations, dust, smoke and animal hair
• Drive in all manner of weather: snow, ice, mud, etc.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in nursing from an accredited college or university
• Two (2) years’ experience in maternal /child health, public health, home visiting or mental /behavioral nursing preferred
• Experience in home health care setting preferred
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills required
• Basic computer skills required and a working knowledge of medical terminology, electronic medical record preferred

Required Licensure/Certification Skills:

• Registered Nurse - licensed in VT and NH
• Current CPR required