Nursing Department

Mission and Vision

Mission

Our mission is to provide comprehensive, person-centered nursing care to Northern Virginians experiencing a serious mental illness. Nursing care, provided within an interdisciplinary context, promotes patient safety, health, well being and recovery.

Vision

Through the creative identification and utilization of resources within the challenges of a publicly funded system and the embracement of change as an essential component of positive growth, the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute’s Nursing Department will be the recognized regional leader providing nursing services to an increasingly complex patient population working toward recovery.

The road to reaching our vision involves:

Orientation programs designed to facilitate a smooth entry for Registered Nurses who are new graduates, nurses who have been away from nursing practice or those who have been practicing in another specialty area.

Orientation and training programs for students in human services fields or other individuals interested in these areas to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to become a certified Psychiatric Technician.

Ongoing staff development programs, in-service offerings and other continuing education opportunities to support professional development and continuous improvement of our treatment programs.

A commitment to continuous improvement of the services we provide to patients, their families and significant others.

A commitment to being the employer of choice for our staff.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the shift hours?

Days 7:00am - 3:30pm
Evenings 3:00pm - 11:30pm
Nights 11:00pm - 7:30am

In addition to the above shift hours, a limited number of 12-hour shift schedules are available.

Is there a shift and/or weekend differential?

Yes, there are shift and weekend differentials for Registered Nurses and Psychiatric Technicians

Does patient census dictate staffing levels?

Units are staffed to full census at all times. Staffing levels for each unit and shift are based on patient acuity and census.

What is the patient population?

We have a census of 129 beds.
Intensive Service is made up of FI and F2 Units, each with 20 beds
Intermediate Service is made up of I1 and I2 Units, totaling 55 beds
Reintegration Service, K Unit has 34 beds
Ages of patients range from 18-65 with different cultural backgrounds, a variety of legal statuses and diagnoses.

What is the access to medical care for the patients?

There is 24-hour in-house coverage by Primary Care Staff consisting of physicians and a Nurse Practitioner as well as access to outside consultants as needed.

Is there free parking?

Yes, adequate, free parking is available.

Is rotating shifts a requirement?

No, all nursing staff are hired to a permanent shift; however, staff on all shifts are flexible to cover other shifts as needed.

How are schedules made?

Self-scheduling/Team-scheduling is practiced and has been effective in covering unit/shifts. Nurse Unit Managers monitor, review and approve schedules as well as time-off requests.

Do you use mandatory overtime to cover scheduling?

No, mandatory overtime is not used as preplanning for staff scheduling. Use of mandatory overtime is used only to cover in emergencies and must be approved by the Chief Nurse Executive.

Do you use agency nurses?

No, we have not used agency nurse in more than 10 years.

Contact Us

Sally Garrett, Chief Nurse Executive
3302 Gallows Road
Falls Church, VA 22042
(703) 207-7130
Nursing@NVMHI.DMHMRSAS.VIRGINIA.GOV Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute