Canberra Health Services (CHS) is focused on the delivery of high quality, effective, person-centered care. It provides acute, sub-acute, primary, and community‐based health services, to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and surrounding region.
Canberra Health Services is committed to the delivery of person and family centered, safe and high-quality care in a sustainable health system. This will be achieved with key strategic priorities for CHS which includes ensuring the delivery of Canberra Health Service’s Quality Strategy and government priorities and aligning them with ACT Health’s Territory Wide Services Framework.
The key strategic priority for acute services is to deliver timely access to effective and safe hospital care services. The hospital delivers a full range of medical, surgical and obstetric services, including complex procedures in areas such as cardiac surgery, neurosurgery and neonatal intensive care.

Strong links exist between hospital and community-based services, as many of the operational divisions deliver services across the continuum of care to ensure continuity of care for patients. The community-based services of Canberra Health Services include early childhood, youth and women’s health; dental services, rehabilitation and community care; mental health and alcohol and drug services. In addition, justice health services are provided within the Territory’s’ detention facilities.

Canberra Health Services is a partner in teaching with the Australian National University, the University of Canberra and the Australian Catholic University.

More information can be found on the CHS website: https://www.health.act.gov.au/

The School Youth Health Nurse (SYHN) Program employs Registered Nurses with knowledge and experience in adolescent health who provide targeted primary health care for students attending ACT Government Secondary Schools.
This is an exciting role for a Registered Nurse interested in advocating for and supporting young people to access healthcare providers in our community. The successful applicant will be employed in ACT Government Secondary Schools
The School Youth Health Nurse plays a vital role in the school community in addressing contemporary health and social issues faced by young people with a focus on health promotion and primary healthcare including individual consultations, health education and small group education.

The program’s core elements are:

• Adolescent focused individual consultations
• Provide health promotion, including delivering health education packages in schools and facilitating small group sessions.
• Support for teachers to deliver the health curriculum
• Support for health promotion activities within the school

Note:
This position is under Schedule 4 of the ACT Public Sector Nursing and Midwifery Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following.

Under limited direction of the Adolescent CNC you will provide targeted primary health care and health education for students attending ACT Government Secondary Schools. This role is based in ACT Government secondary schools four days a week with one day per week set aside to undertake administrative and training functions. This includes providing health education in ACT Government secondary schools that do not have a School Youth Health Nurse in place.

You will:

1. Provide individual consultations for adolescents that are developmentally appropriate, evidence-based, trauma informed, client centred, confidential, holistic, inclusive, and trustworthy health care.
2. Support adolescents to achieve lifelong health and wellbeing through education, health promotion, health education, harm minimisation, early intervention, assessment, referral, and access to appropriate health care services.
3. Consider and address the Social Determinants of Health when assessing an adolescent’s health needs and planning their care.
4. Support the development of a healthy school environment, advocating for the health and wellbeing needs of adolescents.
5. Seek opportunities for professional development to ensure best practice in adolescent health care.
6. Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the organisation.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Tertiary Qualification or related qualification in Nursing
• Registered or eligible for registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
• Current Driver’s Licence

Desirable

• Additional experience and/or qualifications in Health Promotion, Sexual Health, Mental Health and/or Adolescent Health.
• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.

Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to the following.

Essential

• A minimum 4 years’ full time equivalent experience working as a Registered Nurse
• Experience or knowledge of the CHS Exceptional Care Framework, Clinical Governance Framework, Partnering With Consumers Framework and all other related frameworks.

Desirable

• Additional experience and/or qualifications in Adolescent Health, Health Promotion, Sexual Health and/or Mental Health

Appointment to this position is conditional on being granted and retaining appropriate clearances.

• Pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Proven comprehensive experience in youth/adolescent health nursing and the ability to apply the principles of primary health care, working in partnership with adolescents to achieve their health goals.
2. Demonstrated commitment to excellence in nursing practice including, conducting quality improvement activities that promote best professional practice and improved health outcomes as well as contributing to policy, procedure and guidelines development.
3. Demonstrated experience with group facilitation and/or health promotion activities, supporting adolescent health and wellbeing.
4. Proven high level of effective communication, both written and verbal, for a diverse range of situations including with young people, their families, with school staff and with other health professionals.
5. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, Work Health and Safety and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.

Administrative	Frequency
Telephone use	Frequently
General computer use	Frequently
Extensive keying/data entry	Frequently
Graphical/analytical based	Occasionally
Sitting at a desk	Frequently
Standing for long periods	Occasionally

Travel	Frequency
Frequent travel – multiple work sites	Occasionally
Frequent travel – driving	Occasionally

Physical demands	Frequency
Distance walking (large buildings or inter-building transit)	Never
Working outdoors	Never

Psychosocial demands	Frequency
Distressed People e.g. Emergency or grief situations	Occasionally
Aggressive & Uncooperative People e.g. drug / alcohol, dementia, mental illness	Never
Unpredictable People e.g. Dementia, mental illness, head injuries	Never
Restraining e.g. involvement in physical containment of clients/consumers	Never
Exposure to Distressing Situations e.g. Child abuse, viewing dead / mutilated bodies; verbal abuse; domestic violence; suicide	Occasionally

Specific hazards	Frequency
Working at heights	Never
Exposure to extreme temperatures	Never
Operation of heavy machinery e.g. forklift	Never
Confined spaces	Never
Excessive noise	Never
Low lighting	Never
Handling of dangerous goods/equipment e.g. gases; liquids; biological.	Never
Slippery or uneven surfaces	Occasionally

Manual handling	Frequency
Lifting 0 – 9kg	Occasionally
Lifting 10 – 15kg	Never
Lifting 16kg+	Never
Climbing	Never
Running	Never
Reaching	Occasionally
Kneeling	Occasionally
Foot and leg movement	Occasionally
Hand, arm and grasping movements	Occasionally
Bending/squatting	Occasionally
Bend/Lean Forward from Waist/Trunk twisting	Occasionally
Push/pull	Occasionally
Sequential repetitive movements in a short amount of time	Occasionally