CPH Required

Overview

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.*

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
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