Job Description

Involves the clinical expertise, coordination, and advocacy to assist pregnant and postpartum patients and their families in navigating the complexity of the hospital and health care system across the perinatal continuum. Primary goals are to optimize care, outcomes, and the patient experience through nursing-led clinical support, culturally responsive patient navigation, and coordinated transitions across prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum settings. Acts as a communication liaison to understand each patient's individual clinical needs, desires, and concerns. Guides patients and families to a broad range of clinical services, community resources, and information to promote healing, safety, and satisfaction with the patient care experience.

Serves as a clinical resource and liaison for pregnant and postpartum patients and their families enrolled in the EMBRACE Perinatal Integrated Care Program. Provides nursing-led clinical psychoeducation and consultation to prepare families for labor, birth, and post-labor recovery; conducts clinical assessments and perinatal screenings within the RN scope of practice, including perinatal mood and anxiety disorder screening, vital signs, and lactation assessment; and co-facilitates EMBRACE Group Prenatal Care cohorts. Coordinates clinical care transitions between prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum settings, ensuring continuity of care, warm handoffs between providers, and culturally affirming experiences for Black birthing families; assists with labor sitting when complications arise, providing presence, advocacy, and clinical communication with the Labor and Delivery team during high-acuity moments.

Manages patient referrals, intake, orientation, and assignment to EMBRACE services; delivers culturally responsive patient navigation and advocacy; and connects patients to community resources such as WIC, housing support, behavioral health services, pediatric care, SisterWeb, and Black Infant Health. Supports day-to-day operations of EMBRACE clinical perinatal services, integrates culturally rooted birthing practices into prenatal and postpartum programming, and maintains timely, accurate clinical documentation in APeX (UCSF EMR), REDCap, and other program systems. Serves as the lead member of the EMBRACE patient navigation team; mentors junior patient navigators; leads recurring care coordination and group prenatal care facilitation meetings; and serves as the escalation point for complex cases requiring clinical judgment.

DEPARTMENT DESCRIPTION:

The EMBRACE Perinatal Integrated Care Program at UCSF delivers equity-centered, culturally responsive perinatal care to pregnant and postpartum individuals and their families. Operating within an Integrated/Collaborative Care Model and grounded in the Sankofa framework, EMBRACE integrates clinical perinatal services (including individual and group prenatal care, labor sitting, lactation support, perinatal mental health, and women's primary health care) with community-based navigation, birth worker partnerships, and traditional birthing practices that affirm birthing families. The program operates across three UCSF sites with an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, navigators, and community partners.

Responsibilities

of time

Essential Function (Yes/No)

Key Responsibilities

(To be completed by Supervisor)

25
Yes
Integrated Care and Program Operations

• Support day-to-day operations of EMBRACE clinical perinatal services, including individual and group prenatal care, postpartum care, and lactation support
• Provide administrative support for scheduling in collaboration with clinical teams.
• Ensure adherence to research and program protocols, including accurate and timely data collection across all clinical service areas.
• Integrate culturally rooted and non-medicalized birthing practices into prenatal and postpartum programming.
• Identify and recommend improvements to operational workflows that enhance efficiency, patient access, care coordination, and overall program impact.

25
Yes
Patient Care Coordination

• Manage patient referrals, intake, orientation, and assignment to EMBRACE services
• Deliver culturally responsive patient navigation and advocacy for pregnant and postpartum patients and their families
• Connect patients to community resources including WIC, housing support, parental leave, behavioral health services, pediatric care, SisterWeb, Black Infant Health, and other community-based programs.
• Coordinate wellness checks, home visits, community-based visits, and tele-birth support; serve as the primary point of contact for patient questions related to UCSF systems, scheduling, insurance, and care processes; track patient caseloads and facilitate referrals to behavioral health and mental health services.

30
Yes
Perinatal Clinical Care

• Coordinate clinical care transitions between prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum settings, ensuring continuity of care, warm handoffs between providers, and culturally affirming experiences for Black birthing families.
• Co-facilitate EMBRACE Group Prenatal Care cohorts
• Provide clinical psychoeducation and consultation to prepare families for labor and birth, including expectations around the birthing process, anticipated procedures, pain management options, comfort measures, and postpartum recovery.
• Provide clinical psychoeducation and consultation for post-labor recovery, including physical healing, infant feeding, perinatal mood and anxiety symptoms, warning signs to monitor, and follow-up care expectations.
• Assist with labor sitting as needed for families in labor and delivery when complications arise, providing presence, advocacy, culturally responsive support, and clinical communication with the L&D team during high-acuity moments.
• Conduct clinical assessments and perinatal screenings within RN scope of practice, including perinatal mood and anxiety disorder screening, vital signs, lactation assessment, and identification of clinical concerns that warrant escalation to providers or behavioral health services.

10

Leadership and Mentorship

• Lead and/or co-facilitate recurring team meetings (Triage and Referral, Care Coordination, Group Prenatal Care Facilitator's Team)
• Provide systems-level consultation to the Labor and Delivery unit to help build a network of safe passage for Black birthing families.
• Serve as the lead member of the EMBRACE patient navigation team; mentor junior navigators on clinical workflows, culturally responsive engagement, navigation best practices, and documentation standards; delegate referral triage, intake, and case assignment; serve as the escalation point for complex cases.

10
Maintain timely, accurate clinical documentation in APeX (UCSF EMR), REDCap, and other program systems in accordance with UCSF policy, HIPAA, and applicable confidentiality standards.
100%
(To update total %, enter the amount of time in whole numbers (without the % symbol - e.g., 15, 20) then highlight the total sum (e.g., 1%) at the bottom of the column and press F9. The total sum should add up to 100%.)

Qualifications

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited program and minimum five years of experience or equivalent experience/training
• Active, unrestricted Registered Nurse (RN) licensure in the State of California.
• Current BLS (Basic Life Support) certification.
• Strong clinical nursing knowledge across the perinatal continuum (prenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, and lactation). Ability to provide patient education, clinical consultation, and culturally responsive support during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed care, reproductive justice, and the mental health, social, and cultural intervention needs of Black and African American communities.
• Advanced skills in assessing patient grievances and quickly locating appropriate resources to get issues resolved. In-depth knowledge of UCSF systems and how to move issues through the organization.
• Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate and resolve issues effectively with a diverse population of patients, staff, and physicians.
• Ability to work in a complex, multi-divisional healthcare environment; strong skills to establish priorities, set objectives, and achieve stated goals. Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Clear, concise, and culturally responsive communication skills to teach patients and families about complex, sensitive clinical topics across pregnancy, labor, and postpartum.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor, delegate to, and develop junior clinical staff.
• Proficiency with APeX (UCSF EMR), REDCap, and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook), Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.

PREFERRED:

• Additional coursework or training in perinatal nursing, maternal-child health, or community health.
• Lactation peer counselor or IBCLC certification.
• Doula or birthworker training.
• Training in trauma-informed care or perinatal mental health.
• Familiarity with the Sankofa framework, integrated/collaborative care models, and community-centered birthing practices.
• Bilingual proficiency.
• Lived experience and/or deep community connection to the populations EMBRACE serves.

Salary Information

The final salary and offer components are subject to additional approvals based on UC policy.

Your placement within the salary range is dependent on a number of factors including your work experience and internal equity within this position classification at UCSF. For positions that are represented by a labor union, placement within the salary range will be guided by the rules in the collective bargaining agreement.

To learn more about the benefits of working at UCSF, including total compensation, please visit: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html