Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Key Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Nurse Practitioner Functions

The Psychiatric-Mental Health Advanced Nurse Practitioner (APN) will provide psychiatric evaluations and medication management to adult patients in an outpatient setting and will collaborate with treatment staff regarding care and treatment of shared clients between staff and programs.

• Provide direct services to clients and families through evaluations, assessments, medication monitoring, education of medication purpose/side effects, diagnosis, and treatment options
• Obtain relevant health histories as needed
• Order and interpret finding of relevant diagnostic and laboratory tests if needed
• Identify presentations of psychiatric disorders and related health problems
• Provide vital checks, brief health assessment, medication compliance as needed
• Diagnose psychiatric disorders and differentiate psychiatric presentations of medical conditions from psychiatric disorders
• Develop differential diagnosis and work with the client, family, and multidisciplinary behavioral health team to facilitate treatment
• Treat and collaborate with outpatient therapist on treatment plans for acute and chronic psychiatric disorders and Mental Health problems
• Prescribe psychotropic and related medications based on clinical indicators
• Review and assess the quality of services of children receiving psychiatric services in the community
• Assist with identifying, obtaining, and maintaining community linkages to necessary services
• Participate in clinical staffing and case consultations
• Participate in clinical supervision and consultation with agency psychiatrist
• Available by phone for acute care/critical needs of clients
• Review level of care recommendations, clinical assessments, & sign service orders for Mental Health services on an as needed basis or when medical director is not available.
• Travel needed during crisis, if needed will administer oral and intramuscular Medication
• Needed to be on call for Registered Nurse for consultation and verbal order for Medication administration.
• Communicate treatment team to develop and implement treatment plan
• Support in creating, reviewing and continually revising client safety plan
• In adherence to ethical standard of treatment, assess patients, identify need for immediate intervention for safety purposes & enact least restrictive disposition.

• Ensure that documentation is completed in timely manner and that services are completed ina a timely manner.
• Meet productivity standards
• Complete documentation required including progress notes, discharge summaries, and critical incident reports
• Participate in activity planning for psychiatric program development
• Work with supervisor and Medical Director to manage caseload efficiently for the purpose of achieving billing targets
• Manage key performance indicators for outpatient psychiatric services
• Participate in continued quality improvement plan for outpatient services
• Meet supervision requirements to maintain good standing with professional licensure board. Work collaboratively with outpatient Mental Health therapists to treatment plan, assess level of risk, and coordinate quality of care for patients.

Essential Skills and Abilities

§ Strong verbal and written communication skills

§ Interpersonal skills with all levels of professional and client relationships

§ Clinical skills: empathy, ability to engage & compassion

§ Knowledge of Psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V TR Edition

§ Sound clinical judgment with sensitive, ambiguous and/or contradictory input

§ Problem solving/decision making in the face of complexity and ambiguity

§ Multi-tasking when needed to serve interests of clients

§ Provide feedback to colleagues as needed

Qualifications and Requirements

• Graduation from an Accredited School of Medicine or Nursing; certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as an advanced practice Nurse Practitioner with training in psychiatric nursing. Licensed as Advanced Practice Registered Nurse by NC Board of Nursing; Clinical Nurse Specialist with the same credentials.
• The Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner must have verifiable experience treating with Mental Health diagnoses.
• Requires knowledge and the ability to practically implement Mental Health regulations and psychiatric services
• Requires effective communication, decision-making, analytical, interpersonal, leadership, and professionalism skills and abilities
• Must have basic computer skills
• Must have a valid Illinois Driver’s License and be willing to provide services in multiple sites
• Must submit to and pass pre-employment drug screening, criminal, HCPR (Health Care Personnel Registry) and driving checks