Medical Foster Care Nursing Supervisor

Brooklyn Family Services Center (175 Remsen St)

$120000-$125000/year

Position Summary: Under the supervision of the Medical Foster Care (MFC) Nursing Administrator, the Nursing Supervisor is responsible for the supervision of nursing caseloads of medically fragile or special needs children residing in foster homes, as part of assuring a quality medical home at Children’s Aid.  Additionally, the MFC Nursing Supervisor will utilize principles of supervision, reflective practice, and staff development, to provide primary support and appropriate oversight to the nurse case managers, and to build and model a strengths-based, client-centered culture. Other responsibilities include providing health education and skills improvement for the foster parents and biological parents and serving as an advocate for the needs of the children in the program.

Responsibilities: 

Administration

• Provides weekly supervision to 6 to 12 nurse case managers
• Provides adequate orientation, professional development opportunities, and study time to remediate gaps in necessary knowledge and skills.
• Assigns client caseloads and monitors nurse case manager’s ability to build and manage caseload.
• Supervises daily management and coordination of appointments, supplies, and medication for foster children on a caseload of nurses whom she supervises, and acts as a resource to other staff members involved in patient care
• Supervises referrals for hearing and vision screening and other problems.
• Assures medical reports are in the medical record within a reasonable time frame (2 weeks after appointment). 
• Ensures timely communication with team (social worker, foster parent, biological parent, psychiatrist, and pediatrician) about missed or rescheduled appointments and any special assistance required, i.e. translator, transportation, and/or cultural.
• Ongoing telephone communication with foster parents to ensure continuity of care.
• Provides useful developmental feedback, and, with Nursing Administrator, confronts and develops a plan with staff to address performance and resolve issues.
• Builds confidence and skills of nurse case managers.
• Provides supervision and evaluation of nurse case managers and administrative support staff (including time and leave, performance evaluations, disciplinary action, etc.).
• Effectively assists nurse case managers in analyzing complex problems and case situations.
• Ensures that all staff attend all required MFC education sessions.
• Approves all time off requests for nurses whom she supervises
• Maintains time and leave for those staff she supervises
• Provides monthly review and analysis of nurse home visits
• Approves the appropriate equipment and supply requests for foster children
• Acts as a nursing supervisor in the absence of the nursing supervisor

• Reviews school forms, reports, rate forms, and summaries developed by nurses whom she supervises.

Program Intake

• Provides backup to Nursing Administrator for Program Intake, which includes
  • Screens and assesses the appropriateness of placement requests from OPA
  • Identifies and matches resources for home placement, along with home finder and intake team
  • Introduces foster parents to foster children before placement
  • Arranges for initial foster parent health education and skills building.
  • Creates, implements, and maintains a care plan for each identified problem at intake.

Nursing Assessment and Patient Care:

• Support case management of children in the CA MFC as needed.
  • Provide initial health education and skills building for foster and biological parents on the child’s medical condition, proper administration of medication, safety precautions including response to side effects, universal precautions, age anticipatory guidance, and any other training based on the care plan.
  • Shows competency in nursing practices: proper nursing skills, proper use of medical equipment and terminology, and employing current nursing protocols and procedures.
  • Utilizes the nursing process to develop nursing assessments of foster children from comprehensive birth, developmental, health, immunization, and social histories.
  • Maintains medical records in an updated (real-time), organized, and legible condition, including medication, feeding, and therapy changes.
  • Assists the NP/MD with well-child care, follow-up, and sick visits of foster children in the program. 
  • Administers immunizations as directed by NP/MD.
  • Triages daily phone calls and serves as an emergency on-call resource periodically.

• Accepts 24-hour on-call coverage as needed

Professional Development

• Continues to update professional knowledge both formally and informally by actively pursuing continuing education units through an accredited organization.

Interdisciplinary Skills

• Attends Program-Based Health Center meetings, weekly nurse case conferences, monthly foster care staff meetings, Family Team Conferences, and other CAS site meetings.
• Works collaboratively with social workers, administrative staff, doctors, and community health care providers.
  • Performs other related duties as requested.

• Implements the philosophy and objectives of the program.

Qualifications:

• NYS Licensed Registered Nurse
• 10-12 years of experience in pediatric nursing with special needs children.
• Excellent verbal and writing skills.
• Goal-oriented with strong time management skills
• Flexibility and ability to work under pressure.
• Bilingual (Spanish) ability a plus.