Commitment To Equity and Social Justice:
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.
 
The county government has 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 all communities are incorporated into our emergency planning and public outreach efforts.
 
We recognize that structural racism consists of principles and practices that cause and justify an inequitable distribution of rights, opportunities, and experiences across racial groups. Since declaring Racism is a Public Health Crisis in June 2020, King County and Public Health committed to being intentionally anti-racist and accountable to Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities.
 
To learn more, please visit
 
  
Work Location: The primary work locations are at the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle and Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
 
Work Schedule: Career Service positions are flexible from 0.5 FTE to 1.0 at King County Correctional Facilities, Seattle and Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. The work days and hours may vary with team coverage of weekday day, evening shifts, weekend, holiday day shifts and is overtime eligible.
 
Contact: For information about this opportunity please email Amy M. Curtis, BSN, RN, Nurse Recruitment Manager at amy.curtis@kingcounty.gov
 
 
Examples of Duties:

• Performance of a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, that includes the patient’s current psychiatric problem(s), history psychiatric care, psychiatric review of systems, a mental status exam, diagnosis, prescription of medications and other treatments, client education and referrals for other services.  
• Obtain health history through client/caregiver interview and chart review. Assess presenting illness and risk factors, family health history, review of systems, psychosocial/developmental histories, and cultural information.
• Recognize common medical conditions and complaints to identify and separate from psychiatric diagnoses.    
• Perform appropriate physical examination and assessment.
• Order or perform appropriate diagnostic and screening tests and collect additional data for evaluation of illness/wellness.
• Develop differential diagnosis and risk identification through assessment and interpretation of data.
• Complete documentation in the electronic health record in a timely manner. 
• Respond to medical or psychiatric emergencies as part of the Jail healthcare team.    
• Participate in after hours on call coverage.    
• Perform assessment and treatment of psychiatric emergencies, such as acute alcohol withdrawal, delirium, and catatonia.  
• Participate in the preparation of documents necessary for the transfer of a client to outside agencies, such as Designated County Responders, or a transfer to an outside medical facility. 
• Participate in the involuntary the antipsychotic hearing process, including report preparation, presentation to the hearing committee, prescribing involuntary antipsychotics, and/or the appeal review role. 
• Participate in Continuing Education, guidelines development, staff development, committee meetings.    
• Develop and implement individualized mental health treatment plans, ensure coordination of services, oversight of referrals.    
• Communicate care through electronic charting and verbal interactions with your client and health care team (interdisciplinary health team, students and interagency services) providing them with leadership and direction; consult, educate, orient and train as needed. Act as consultant to health care team, other staff and the community.    
• Ensure quality of professional practice by practicing within professional, legal and ethical standards. Participate in; Quality Improvement (QI)/Quality Assurance (QA) activities as requested. Provide psychiatric services as an independent psychiatric health care provider based on Public Health-Seattle & King County clinical practice guidelines, CDC guidelines, mental health standards as well as the current community standards.

 
 Requirements:

• Washington State license as a BSN Registered Nurse (in good standing) from an accredited school of nursing required.
• Washington State license as an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (in good standing) with prescriptive authority required.
• Completion of advanced practitioner training and board certification as a nurse practitioner within the specialty practice.    
• Must have a National Provider Identification (NPI) number prior to credentialing.    
• Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration must be obtained prior to credentialing.   
• Documentation of current BLS CPR certification with AED training required at time of hire. CPR/AED Heartsaver courses do not meet this requirement. 
• Willing to provide options counseling and possible referral for termination required.

Desired Qualifications: 

• Two years of experience providing adult psychiatric services (relevant nursing experience will be considered).    
• Experience providing care to diverse socio-economic populations.    
• Knowledge of alcohol and drug addiction and withdrawals.    
• Skill in prescribing psychiatric medications. 
• The most competitive candidate will have experience providing psychiatric services in a correctional setting.
• Knowledge of advanced practice of nursing, advanced knowledge of human systems, including wellness/illness, growth and development, basic nutrition, behavioral, psycho-social and family systems; anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology; pharmacology and therapeutics and alternative treatment modalities, diagnostic testing and interpretation of results, diagnostic reasoning and clinical decision-making.    
• Knowledge of health promotion, risk assessment and education techniques and principles.    
• Thorough knowledge of health care system structure and function; community, professional and educational resources.    
• Demonstrated ability in mental health assessment, communication (oral, written and use of information management systems and health care technology), medical records documentation, writing orders, time management, problem solving, crisis intervention, interviewing, analytical and critical thinking, leadership and case management.    
• Demonstrated ability to consult, investigate, facilitate and present effectively.    
• Demonstrated ability in initiating appropriate emergency response.    
• Demonstrated ability in working with diverse cultural and socio-economic populations providing therapeutic client interventions and group dynamics

Additional Information:
Public Health - Jail Health Services follows and maintains federal and state requirements standards including, but not limited to, Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards which apply to all public and private institutions that house adult or juvenile offenders. PREA standards preclude the department from hiring or promoting anyone who has engaged in, or been convicted of any conduct which would violate PREA standards related to sexual assault including:
   

• Sexual abuse in a prison, jail, lockup, community confinement facility, juvenile facility, or other institution    
• Engaging or attempting to engage in sexual activity in the community facilitated by force, overt or implied threats of force, or coercion, or if the victim did not consent or was unable to consent or refuse.    
• Civil or administrative adjudication that the candidate has engaged in the activity described above.

Additionally, PREA standards require that the department consider any incidents of sexual harassment involving an inmate or detainee in determining whether or not to hire or promote anyone.
 
The above is in compliance with PREA and its implementing regulations, 28 C.F.R. Part 115, Subpart A, Section 115.17, Hiring and Promotion Decisions.
 
The person hired into this position is required to adhere to the policies of the Department of Juvenile and Adult Detention in addition to those of the Public Health Department.

Necessary Requirements:

• Documentation of current BLS CPR certification with AED training required at time of hire. CPR/AED Heartsaver courses do not meet this requirement.
• The selected candidate will be required to pass a thorough background investigation.
• An offer of employment will be contingent on passing a pre-employment physical exam (should be able to lift 50 pounds, move quickly up and down stairs, crouching/bending to perform CPR). Details available upon request.

• The selection process may include evaluation of application materials and supplemental questions, interviewing, and testing. You must completely fill out the application with your relevant education and work experience.

• The selected candidate must be able to pass a thorough background investigation, but findings may not necessarily disqualify an applicant for employment.
• For more information on our selection process, please refer to . For tips on interviewing, please visit . 
• Employees are required to protect the privacy and security of protected health information as defined in State and Federal Law.
• 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.
• Employees are required to adhere to OSHA/WISHA guidelines including but not limited to completing their mandatory trainings on time and obtaining required immunizations.
• Regular and reliable attendance, effective communication skills, and development of effective working relationships are requirements of all Public Health positions.
• When Public Health responds to an emergency, and in accordance with relevant CBA language and/or KC policy and procedures, we may assign duties outside your regular job description. This may involve responding at any time, including nights and weekends, with possible deployment to locations other than the department. 
• If you need a disability accommodation in the application or testing process, please call the contact number listed on the job announcement.

 
 Union Affiliation:  This position is represented by Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA).