NURSING INSTRUCTOR

State of careers Rhode Island•Benton Township, PA

About The Position

This position serves as the clinical lead for the implementation, optimization, and ongoing support of the hospital’s new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system within a state-funded forensic psychiatric setting. This role integrates nursing science, behavioral health practice, regulatory requirements, and information technology to ensure that the EMR supports safe, secure, and legally sound patient care. The Specialist acts as a liaison between nursing staff, interdisciplinary teams, hospital leadership, and IT to promote workflow efficiency, documentation integrity, and compliance with state and federal mandates.

Requirements

KNOWLEDGES, SKILLS AND CAPACITIES: A thorough knowledge of professional nursing methods and practices, and skill in their application; a familiarity with the principles, methods and techniques of general or psychiatric nursing education and the ability to apply such principles, methods and techniques through classroom and clinical instruction; the ability to assist a superior in the planning and development of various courses of instruction for such employees; the ability to guide and advise nursing staff in the development of effective nursing approaches; the ability to assist a superior in planning and development of various tests and measurements designed to evaluate the progress of such employees; to assist in the evaluation and improvement of teaching and nursing practices; the ability to evaluate students/employees in various clinical activities; and related knowledge, skills, abilities and capacities.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: Education: Such as may have been gained through: graduation from an accredited school of Nursing, and graduation from an accredited college with a concentration in Nursing Education or in health related discipline; demonstrated continuing education in psychiatric nursing as required; and Experience: Such as may have been gained through: employment for a minimum of two years in clinical nursing practice or as a nurse educator in a private or public hospital or school of nursing or comparable setting.
Or, any combination of education and experience that shall be substantially equivalent to the above education and experience.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENT: Must meet nursing registration requirements of the State of Rhode Island and must maintain licensure, certification or registration as a condition of employment.

Nice To Haves

Active Registered Nurse (RN) license.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)
Minimum 3–5 years of psychiatric or forensic nursing experience.
Experience participating in EMR implementation or optimization.
Strong understanding of regulatory standards in behavioral health settings.
Master’s degree in Nursing Informatics, Nursing Leadership, or related field.
Informatics Nursing Certification (RN-BC).
Experience in state-operated or publicly funded healthcare systems.
Project management experience (PMP preferred).
The preferred candidate should possess these core competencies Behavioral health documentation expertise Regulatory compliance and survey readiness Change management in unionized/state environments Data analytics and performance improvement Systems thinking and workflow redesign Fiscal accountability in public institutions

Responsibilities

EMR Implementation & Optimization Serve as nursing lead during EMR selection, build, testing, training, go-live, and post-implementation stabilization.
Collaborate with IT and vendors to configure documentation tools specific to forensic and psychiatric care (e.g., competency restoration, seclusion/restraint documentation, court-ordered treatment, risk assessments).
Chair Nursing Informatics Governance Committee and approve nursing documentation standards.
Ensure workflows reflect custody considerations, safety protocols, and interdisciplinary treatment planning.
Participate in system upgrades, validation testing, and change management processes.
Forensic & Regulatory Compliance Ensure documentation compliance with The Joint Commission, CMS Conditions of Participation, Rhode Island Department of Health, and court-mandated standards.
Lead documentation audits for high-risk areas including restraint/seclusion, medication administration, suicide precautions, and incident reporting.
Serve as EMR subject matter expert during surveys and regulatory tracers.
Develop corrective action plans related to documentation deficiencies.
Clinical Workflow & Safety Conduct workflow analyses to reduce redundancy and documentation burden.
Integrate clinical decision support tools to promote patient and staff safety.
Align EMR workflows with violence prevention, contraband monitoring, and custody collaboration protocols.
Data & Quality Improvement Develop and maintain dashboards tracking restraint/seclusion utilization, adverse events, medication errors, infection control metrics, and documentation compliance.
Partner with Quality, Risk Management, Infection Control, and Nursing Leadership to drive performance improvement initiatives.
Ensure data integrity and fiscal stewardship within a 100% state-funded environment.
Education & Change Management Develop and deliver EMR training programs for nursing, behavioral health technicians, and interdisciplinary staff.
Establish and manage a super-user network to support frontline staff.
Provide real-time support during go-live and system transitions.
Lead change management initiatives within a unionized/state environment.
Security & Confidentiality Ensure HIPAA compliance and forensic-specific confidentiality protections.
Collaborate with IT to establish role-based access controls and monitor audit trails.
Support legal hold documentation processes and litigation readiness.
To be responsible for giving classroom instruction in the principles and practices of general or psychiatric nursing, and to coordinate its practical application in the clinical setting.
To assist in the planning, development and implementation of staff development curriculum for professional, paraprofessional and selected non-nursing personnel.
To assist in developing and coordinating staff development class schedules.
To coordinate the clinical assignments of nursing employees during orientation and to evaluate performance as it relates to established course objectives.
To plan, prepare, administer and correct examinations, to develop competency testing, and to evaluate employee progress and the effectiveness of instruction during orientation and staff development programs.
To develop and maintain a record-keeping system which will accurately document employee achievement and reflect the impact of staff development programs on job performance.
To correlate examination results with the results of clinical practice evaluations as a final determination of employee effectiveness as it relates to staff development programs.
To participate in selected community education programs in order to promote public awareness of the hospital's philosophy and goals.
To establish and maintain effective working relationships with the professional, medical and nursing staff members and with the paraprofessional and non-nursing staff members to ensure the effectiveness of programs.
To cooperate with other faculty members in developing a continuous review of the instruction, course content, employee evaluation criteria and methods in order to improve the program in the light of current teaching and general or psychiatric nursing methods and practices.
To Participate in quality assurance program functions.
To do related work as required.

Benefits

For information regarding the benefits available to State of Rhode Island employees, please visit the Office of Employee Benefits' website at http://www.employeebenefits.ri.gov/.

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