Reports to: Registered Nurse and Senior Executive Director.

LPN professionals must be first and foremost qualified and compassionate. The ideal candidate will be experienced in providing diverse basic care to those who need it while remaining patient and calm. Will be interacting with Resident’s from ages 6 to 21 with moderate to severe autism or a severe intellectual disability.  Residents are verbal and non-verbal.

Position Summary: 

• Responsible for assisting in medical care of all residents, including scheduling, and accompanying residents to medical appointments, assessing, and treating minor injuries and illnesses. Along with the health care technician or by providing directive to the health care technician ensures each resident has accurate and up to date medical records of all attended clinical appointments, including medical, dental, vision, psychiatric, or medical specialty. 
• Schedules all medical appointments for residents and maintains calendar of upcoming appointments.  In some instances, requests assistance from the Program Coordinator or Milieu Managers to ensure all residents are accompanied as per policy at medical appointments. 
• Compiles all discharge paperwork following medical appointments to maintain accurate medical appointment charts. Responsible for prepping all nursing paperwork for new admissions.  Maintaining all up-to-date information in medical notebooks in the nursing office, including copies of referral sheets, guardian contact info, copy of Medicaid card, etc.  Ensure all paperwork is prepared in advance of medical appointments. 
• Assists with audits and prepares reports as needed, including DSS and DDSN visits and requests for nurses’ notes, auditing medications, and the medical cart, auditing MARs, etc. 
• Prints and sets up the monthly communication logbook.  Responsible for filing paperwork, answering calls, the front door, etc. 
• Responsible for filling in nursing duties for the RN in his/her absence. 
• Administers medication to residents in the absence of trained and qualified medication administration personnel. 
• Assists the RN in keeping the nursing office organized and clear of clutter. 
• Responsible for ordering nursing/medical supplies with approval by the Registered Nurse. 
• Maintains the medical cart, performing regular audits and keeping it well stocked. 
• Takes care of all mail for the nursing department, including routing to the appropriate places to ensure bill payment, including faxing, and calling caseworkers, doctor’s offices etc. 
• Works on the floor as Direct Care Staff as needed. Assess residents to ensure there are no injuries, on a continual basis or if required in an emergency.

Responsibilities

• Record resident’s medical history accurately
• May take and record measurements of blood pressure, temperature, heart rate etc.
• Interact with resident staff to establish if there are any issues, etc.
• If necessary, observe and establish processes and procedures for Med pass and documentation
• Continually on a daily basis physically check medications to ensure medications do not run out for any resident
• Train Supervisors/BHT’s on medication distribution, inventory, and narcotic drug procedure
• Observe residents under treatment to identify progress, side-effects of medications etc.
• Cut/trim resident nails, observe any hygiene issues
• Communicate with supervisors regarding each resident
• Monitor residents’ condition including fluid intake and output and compose resident charts
• May assist ailing residents in daily necessary activities such as eating, bathing etc.
• May administer prescribed medications, enemas etc., clean and dress wounds and assist with other basic medical care tasks
• Provide emotional and psychological support when needed
• Communicate with patients’ family or friends to provide advice, comfort, and release instructions

Annual/Training Modules that must be completed online:

• Bloodborne Pathogens
• RBT Training
• Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
• Defensive Driving (Annually)

Qualifications

• Graduation from an accredited school of practical nursing
• Licensed as a Licensed Practical Nurse in accordance with state regulations in good standing
• Clinical experience as an LPN
• Ability to undertake a variety of diverse care tasks and work in a multidisciplinary team
• Familiarity with patients who have autism or an intellectual disability, health, safety and sanitation standards and procedures
• Understanding of confidentiality obligations and nursing best practices
• Excellent knowledge of medical and hospital terminology
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office and data entry
• Physical condition and stamina
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Compassionate and able to handle stress, and possible hard to handle adolescents