Mental Health Worker

Mental Health Worker

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university
• BLS-Basic Life Support Healthcare Provider
• Effective interpersonal skills
• Functional knowledge of psychiatric terminology

Responsibilities

• Assists patients in bathing and personal hygiene as required
• Assures that all patients are dressed appropriately in street clothes unless they are physically ill, in seclusion, or on elopement precautions
• Assists patients to maintain their room in an orderly manner
• Utilizes communication skills and facilitates patient communication and interaction
• Maintains an overview of the milieu and is sensitive to shifts in mood or activity which may signal the need for nursing intervention
• Reports these shifts in milieu to the R.N.
• Assists patients to develop constructive alternative behaviors that enhance their coping skills, self-esteem and promote symptom reduction
• Assists patients to establish goals for recovery and relapse prevention
• Uses the multidisciplinary care plan and the Rand to guide interventions and documentation; makes suggestions for interventions to the treatment team
• Leads community meeting using established unit protocols, and co-facilitates or facilitates other groups of a recreational nature using established unit guidelines
• Accompanies patients for testing and other activities which require supervision
• Applies hospital procedures for emergencies, including Code Blue, Priority One, Code Grey, disaster and fire drills
• Accompanies patients on attended privileges, and assures that all patients that are taken off the unit on walks are not on a 5150 or 5250 hold for dangerousness
• Obtains RN approval of the patient walk list prior to taking patients on walks
• Uses personal judgement in collaboration with the R.N. in refusing walks to patients with privileges when their behavior indicates they may not be safe off the unit
• Follows established protocols for walks
• Adheres to state mental health regulations regarding confidentiality, patient’s rights, and voluntary and involuntary detentions
• Documents observations and interventions legibly in the medical record, using acceptable hospital abbreviations, and problem oriented format
• Participates in patient admissions by assembling charts, obtaining historical data about the patient, taking and recording vital signs, heights and weights, completing advisements, conducting searches for contraband, orienting new patients to the milieu and the program, and introducing patients to the current patient population and staff
• Maintains a safe, clean, hazard free environments and reports safety issues to the R.N. immediately
• Functions within the hospital treatment philosophy, objectives, policies and procedures
• Assists the R.N. in ensuring that rounds are performed in a timely manner and that the components of the program are implemented according to the posted schedule
• Assists in the orientation of new staff to the unit
• Participates in patient discharges by assisting the patient to gather and pack belongings, retrieving belongings from locked areas and the safe, implementing interventions to reduce patient anxiety during the discharge process
• Participates in providing nourishment for all patients through supervision of communal dining, noting intake of food, assuring special diets are distributed appropriately, assuring that patients in seclusion and/or restraints are provided proper meal service
• Assures that dining areas and kitchen areas are clean and safe before and after meals
• Reports problems with nutritional intake to the R.N.
• Cares for the patient in seclusion and restraints, and in conjunction with the R.N., assures that observations are completed and documented, and that physical and emotional needs of the patient are being addressed per hospital policy
• Assists the R.N. in assessing the patient’s readiness for release from seclusion
• Restrains patients safely with attention to physical or emotional needs that may jeopardize patient safety
• Communicates with patients in a manner that demonstrates caring, compassion and respect
• De-escalates potentially assaultive situations using least restrictive alternatives, and intervenes quickly in emergency situations using management of assaultive behavior principles
• Attends physicians’ physical examinations; assures that the examining room is clean and well-stocked prior to and following physical examinations
• Acts as a resource for family members, assisting the milieu during visiting hours, monitoring family visits, searching belongings brought by families to the patients, clarifying unit policies to family members in a respectful and helpful manner
• Utilizes principles of customer service, including respect, accessibility and caring to patients, families and coworkers

Preferred Qualifications

• Minimum of 12 months of experience in a behavioral health care setting