Street Medicine Nurse

We are excited to begin providing care to people experiencing homelessness and living unsheltered through our Street Medicine team in 2025. This position is a Public Health Nurse I (PHN I) that works as part of an interdisciplinary Street Medicine outreach team that includes a community health worker, with a physician available for consultation. This role provides culturally appropriate and compassionate medical care for people in our community. From a clinical standpoint, you will provide a broad scope of primary care services in the field, with a substantial focus on substance use care. This is a Project, Full-Time (1.0 FTE) funded through 12/31/2025 with the intention of extending the position dependent on funding.*

1st applicants review: 9/15
 

Some of what you'll do:

Basic medical care, including urgent care to address acute medical concerns, infectious disease control (e.g., HIV screening, wound and foot care), well-person exams, chronic disease management, immunizations, and medication counseling.

Behavioral health services, including mental health assessments, provision of naloxone and other harm reduction supplies, and initiation of and/or accompaniment to substance use treatment services.

Care coordination and case management services, such as: Wraparound health services and referrals, including referrals to appropriate clinical (e.g., primary care providers) and non-clinical services including behavioral health providers and substance use disorder clinics, to establish long-term care. Medical and psychosocial case management. Work will also include a minimum of 1 additional day focused on documentation, operations, and administration of the SM team.

Patient documentation in an electronic medical system for clinical record keeping and billing.

Participation in weekly SM team meetings to coordinate services, plan operations, discuss care management plans, etc.

Participation in regular trainings for the SM team to cover key SM protocols such as clinical guidelines, infection and infestation prevention, skills to prevent and de-escalate crises, situational awareness and safety precautions in a range of settings, understanding boundaries between street medicine and law enforcement, street medicine 911 protocols, safety precautions for transporting individuals and staff well-being that includes self-care and burnout prevention.

Clinical consultation to help determine needed supplies for the SM team.

Adherence to the SM team safety plan.

Coordination and collaboration with community partners providing services to people living unhoused in Tacoma.

Work to maintain high quality standards for medical care; participation in a quality assurance and improvement plan.

Adherence to licensing requirements.

Patient education on a range of health topics in independent nurse visits.

Performing wound care and foot care, both based on clinician orders as well as independent nurse visits within appropriate nursing scope of practice.

Collecting labs/specimens and performing Point Of Care tests.

Administering medications.

Emergencies

• When public health responds to an emergency you may be assigned duties and responsibilities that are outside your regular job description. This may involve responding at any time and reporting to a location other than the department with different working conditions and physical requirements. You are expected to participate in emergency preparedness activities including our emergency notification system, WA SECURES. Drills and real-world events may take place at any time.

Click here for a detailed Class Specifications | Public Health Nurse I | Class Spec Details

What you bring to the table

• Knowledge of professional nursing principles, practices and techniques.
• Knowledge of and ability to assess client's medical needs.
• Knowledge of public health issues and trends affecting health care, social conditions and populations.
• Skill in planning and organizing work activities to meet established objectives.
• Skill in communicating orally using tact and diplomacy to gain concurrence and cooperation.
• Skill in analyzing, compiling, recording, and assessing data, i.e., nursing plans of action, medical records, etc.
• Ability to apply epidemiological analysis and surveillance methods and concepts to the field of work.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with a diverse population of clients, providers, schools, community-based agencies, and departmental personnel.
• Intermediate knowledge of standard Microsoft Office programs and electronic medical records usage.
• Familiarity with community, professional, and educational resources for referral services. 

Competencies

• Cultural Competency: Demonstrates knowledge of the implications for public health of increasingly diverse communities (including racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious, gender diversity and more.)  Understands the impact of decisions on our diverse workforce and community. Adapts public health education practices to the needs of diverse populations. 
• Accountability: Takes personal responsibility for the quality and timeliness of work. Ensures that work is complete and accurate. Independently follows up with others to ensure that agreements and commitments have been fulfilled. Manages own time, priorities, and resources to achieve goals. Accepts responsibility for mistakes. Complies with established control systems and rules.
• Adaptability & Flexibility: Adapts behavior or work methods in response to new information, changing circumstances, changing workload demands, or unexpected obstacles. Adapts to a variety of situations, individuals, and groups.  Is open to change and new information. Effectively deals with uncertainty.
• Communication: Able to communicate effectively and clearly both verbally and in writing to varied audiences, including communicating information of a technical nature. Listens to others, understands and learns from what others say, and asks questions that enhance the clarity, quality, and/or reliability of the information. Grasps the meaning of written information and instructions. Chooses the appropriate method of communication for the given situation.
• Customer Focus: Provides courteous service to internal and external customers. Works with customers to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, and resolve their problems, including complex or sensitive issues. Seeks to improve the quality of services. Knowledgeable about available products, resources, and services.
• Ethics & Integrity: Displays high standards of conduct and understands the impact of violating these standards on the organization, self, and others. Is considered trustworthy by peers and managers. Contributes to maintaining the integrity of the organization.
• Interpersonal Relationship: Develops and maintains constructive working relationships characterized by a high level of acceptance, cooperation, and mutual respect. Gets along and interacts positively with co-workers and others. Shows understanding, friendliness, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness to others.  
• Conflict Management: Diplomatically handles challenging or tense interpersonal situations. Maintains composure in highly stressful or adverse situations and works to de-escalate them. Is sensitive to cultural diversity, race, gender, disabilities, and other individual differences.  
• Problem Solving & Decision Making: Recognizes and defines problems. Identifies and evaluates alternative solutions before deciding on or proposing a solution. Makes educated, effective, and timely decisions, at times with limited information in a fast-paced environment. Able to utilize technical information to make effective and timely decisions.
• Confidentiality: Maintains sensitive and confidential data. Demonstrates discretion when sharing information.
• Safety Focus & Emergency Preparedness: Adheres to all workplace and trade safety laws, regulations, standards, and practices. Understands and properly follows established procedures in preventing and responding to unsafe or emergency situations. Identifies and reports potentially unsafe practices or conditions. Operates equipment, tools, machinery, and vehicles safely and understands processes for reporting an accident or injury. Understands and applies knowledge and skills necessary to successfully perform assigned emergency response role during an emergency.