Substance Abuse Navigator

Trustees of University of Pennsylvania; Upper Paxton Township (PA); On-site; USD 52,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia is seeking a Substance Use Navigator (SUN) to join a collaborative care team. This full-time, in-person role focuses on establishing relationships with patients with opioid use disorder and guiding them to MOUD care within the Penn Health System.

The SUN will document encounters in EMR and data systems, perform outreach to patients in the community and post-incarceration, and coordinate recovery resources.

Responsibilities

• Nonjudgmental approach to assisting patients with Substance Use Disorder (SUD).
• Understanding of SUD as a medical condition and the role of MOUD in treatment and harm reduction.
• Interest/proficiency in working with individuals recently released from incarceration, homeless individuals and other marginalized populations.
• Able to interact with patients in a culturally relatable manner.
• Respect for patient confidentiality and privacy.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to use computer information systems and word processing.

Job description

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn's distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America's Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Substance Abuse Navigator

Job Profile Title

Research Administrative Coordinator

Job Description Summary

The Substance Use Navigator (SUN) will establish and maintain relationships with patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) and facilitate linkage to and staying in MOUD care. This role will consist of innovative outreach efforts to follow up with patients throughout the Penn Health Systems, patients recently released from incarceration, and will seek to link these patients to MOUD care.

The SUN will continue to build relationships with the patient in the community. The SUN will document patient encounters and related data in the electronic medical record, REDCap, and in SAMHSA required data collection system.

Job Description

This full-time, in person position is for a Substance Use Navigator (SUN) who will be a core member of a collaborative care team.

The team includes infectious disease and family medicine clinicians, program manager, data manager, and other SUNs. The ideal candidate will have experience and skills to rapidly establish rapport with recovering persons and to utilize a hospital encounter to promptly engage and enroll patients with opioid use disorder to the Penn Link program. The SUN will ensure MOUD enrollment in an outpatient setting, and provide community follow up care. This individual will also be involved in a number of projects and grant-based programming, relating to expanding and supporting services to increase access to substance use disorder treatment and resources within the Penn system and greater community. The SUN will be responsible for updating and expanding resources within Penn and with community practices (communities of recovery, educational, vocational, social, cultural, spiritual resources, mutual self- help groups, professional services, etc.). This will involve a collaborative effort including the recovering person, agency staff and other relevant stakeholders.

The SUN will be responsible for managing their own caseload of patients by providing patients with recovery education and by providing a model for both people in recovery and staff by demonstrating that recovery is possible. The SUN will maintain contact either in-person, by phone or e-mail with the recovering person once they are connected with care and throughout the intervention to ensure ongoing success and to provide re-engagement support in partnership with others in the agency if needed. This individual will assist the recovering person to identify their personal interests, goals, strengths and weaknesses regarding recovery and link them to needed resources. The SUN will help patients identify barriers to accessing care to assist in recovery-related activities and develop strategies to overcome those barriers. The target population are individuals with substance use disorders.

DUTIES

• Nonjudgmental and positive approach to assisting patients with Substance Use Disorder (SUD)
• Understanding of SUD as a medical condition and the role of MOUD in treatment and harm reduction
• Interest/proficiency in working with individuals recently released from incarceration, homeless individuals and other marginalized populations.
• Able to interact with patients in a culturally relatable manner
• Preference for applicants with connections to, and reflecting the diversity of, the local community.
• Respect for patient confidentiality and privacy.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to use computer information systems, computer literacy, and knowledge of word processing
• Ability to establish detail