Senior Public Health Nurse

The Position

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This is a continuous filing exam. Next filing cut-offs are at 5:00 pm on: 1/25/24, 2/29/24, 3/28/24, 4/25/24, 5/30/24, 6/27/24, 7/25/24, 8/29/24, 9/26/24, 10/31/24, 11/28/24, 12/26/24 Senior Public Health Nurses oversee and provide a variety of public health nursing services in a home, group or clinic setting, or in a specific program office, in such areas as prevention and treatment of communicable disease; child health care, growth and development; high-risk infants; home care guidance of the ill, injured and aged; prevention and treatment of disabling illnesses; family planning; parenting; pre- and postnatal care; immunization and inoculation; and, public and community health care resources.

Incumbents work under general supervision of a Supervising Public Health Nurse or other professional nurse, or a higher-level program manager with medical direction as needed from a physician. The focus of duties is on serving as a program specialist and advisor, providing assistance to other staff, and performing the more difficult and complex public health nursing duties; incumbents may supervise or provide work direction to a small staff. Typical assignments of this class include the immunization assistance program, maternal/child health programs, disease control, and elderly assistance.

Examples of Knowledge and Abilities

Knowledge of

• Professional public health nursing principles , procedures and techniques
• State of California laws and regulations on nursing practices
• Normal course of illnesses and disabilities, and their treatment
• Family planning methods
• Pre-natal, pregnancy and post-natal nutrition and medical care
• Infant and child care, growth and development, including common illnesses
• Case management techniques and the care and treatment of high risk, physically impaired and developmentally disabled infants and children
• Substance abuse symptoms and intervention techniques
• Mental illness symptoms and intervention techniques
• Symptoms, prevention, reporting requirements and treatment of child and adult abuse and neglect
• Normal and abnormal family dynamics
• Techniques of organizing and conducting classes and training sessions on a variety of health subjects
• Individual and group counseling techniques applicable to public health nursing
• Common public and community health care resources
• Social and economic factors influencing individual and community health
• Differing cultural, religious and social attitudes about hygiene, family planning, child care, and health treatment
• Proper handling and administering of biologicals
• Proper handling of contaminated items;
• Causes, control, detection, prevention and treatment of common communicable diseases, environmentally based illnesses, sexually transmitted diseases, and food and water-borne illnesses
• Procedures for conducting epidemological investigations
• Standard medical record keeping

Ability to

• Effectively communicate with and gain the cooperation of clients, and potential clients, of various social, cultural, economic and educational backgrounds
• Work cooperatively with other health and social service providers
• Effectively conduct interviews of patients and families to gain information to evaluate their medical situation
• Determine and apply effective means of intervening in cases of mental illness and substance abuse
• Effectively conduct and participate in in-service education and training
• Effectively demonstrate and teach care of infants, children, the disabled and chronically ill to individuals in their homes
• Effectively teach public group classes
• Gain cooperation of patients and other individuals in investigating and treating communicable diseases and environmentally-based illnesses
• Tolerate unsanitary homes
• Learn and comply with laws, rules, regulations, protocols, and procedures, including security requirements, applicable to the work unit
• Recognize and avoid or defuse potentially dangerous situations and hostile people
• Accurately evaluate cases to determine caseload priorities
• Plan routes and schedule in-home visits to make most effective use of time
• Operate slide and movie projectors, and use other teaching aids
• Maintain patient confidentiality

Employment Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Either: One year of experience as a Public Health Nurse in Sacramento County service.

Or: Two years of experience as a licensed/certified public health nurse performing public health nursing duties.

Note:

• Experience requirements are stated as full-time work; to convert part-time to full-time equivalency: 173.6 = 21.7 days = 1 work month.
• Required experience may be paid or unpaid.

Note: The word "experience" referenced in the minimum qualifications means full-time paid experience unless the job announcement states that volunteer experience is acceptable. Part-time paid experience may be accumulated and pro-rated to meet the total experience requirements.

Note: If the minimum qualifications include an educational or certificate/license requirement, applicants must submit proof of requirements with the application. Failure to submit proof of requirements may result in disqualification from the examination. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable. For guidelines on submitting acceptable proof of educational requirements, please click here (Download PDF reader) or speak to someone in our office before the cut-off date listed in this notice.

Certificates/licenses:

• All persons appointed to these classes must possess and maintain a current Registered Nurse license and public health nurse specialty certificate issued by the state of California.
  
  Note: Failure to maintain such license and certification may be cause for disciplinary action in accordance with Civil Service Commission Rules.
• All persons appointed to these classes must possess and maintain a current California driver's license, class III or higher; failure to maintain such license may be cause for disciplinary action in accordance with Civil Service Commission Rules
• Persons appointed to these classes will be required to have, or obtain, and maintain a valid CPR certificate

Other Requirements:

• Some positions in the classes of Public Health Nurse and Senior Public Health Nurse may require the ability to communicate fluently in a language other than English, in addition to English
  
  When required, the special skills may be used in the performance of typical tasks shown in the "Example of Duties" in this class specification. In addition, incumbents translate and interpret using standard English and a language other than standard English; and/or act as a consultant to others regarding the needs and problems presented by individuals of different languages and cultural backgrounds.
  
  The Civil Service Commission approved the use of selective certification for special skills for the classes of Public Health Nurse and Senior Public Health Nurse on May 12, 1989.

Probationary Period

The probationary period for this classification is six (6) months.