Job responsibilities
Job Summary
As Physician Associate, you will work as part of the Team using a wide
range of the skills you have including (but not limited to);
Care planning
- Supporting GPs with managing results
- Supporting GPs with their paperwork.
As the Physician Associate you will act within
your professional boundaries, providing care for patients from initial history
taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of their care
under the supervision of a GP.
You will show safe clinical decision-making and
expert care for patients within the general practice, in consultation with the
duty GP. You will work with the multi-disciplinary general practice team to
support the delivery of policy and procedures and meet the needs of patients.
Supervision and mentoring will be provided by the
appropriate senior medical staff - the type of support will depend on the post
holders skills and knowledge and determined by our clinical governance
arrangements.
You will have annual appraisals and continuing
professional development as provided by the Practice Manager and Partners and set
out by the Faculty of Physician Associates (FPA).
Key Responsibilities
Provide first point of contact care for
patients presenting with undifferentiated, undiagnosed problems utilising
history-taking, physical examinations and clinical decision-making skills to
establish a working diagnosis and management plan in partnership with the
patient (and their carers where applicable).
CLINICAL
- Provide high-quality
clinical care to patients using established clinical guidelines, delivered
in a timely manner.
- Carry out
consultations (whether face to face, online, video or phone), with
patients of all ages as an autonomous practitioner and using own clinical
judgement to diagnose, treat, refer and/or discharge patients
- Make referrals
to secondary care and social services within locally agreed protocols,
guidance and pathways.
- To perform
specialist diagnostic physical examinations and treatment procedures.
- To instruct
and educate patients in preventative health care.
- Ensure
complete and accurate documentation of each and every patient contact.
- Assist or
carry out home visits as necessary or directed by clinical supervisor(s).
- Fully document all aspects of patient care and
complete all required paperwork for legal and administrative purposes.
- Carry out necessary invasive and non-invasive
diagnostic tests or investigations and interpret findings/reports within
the scope of a PAs practice. Discuss the result and implications of
laboratory investigations with patients;
- Utilise
clinical guidelines and promote evidence-based practice;
- Offer a
holistic service to patients and their families, developing where
appropriate an on-going plan of care/support with an emphasis on
prevention and self-care;
- Identify
community health needs and participate in the development of
patient/family-centred strategies to address them
- Contribute to the practice quality targets to
consistently achieve high standards of safe, evidence-based,
cost-effective patient care and service delivery.
- Work to deliver, with other members of College
Health the objectives of our GMS contracts and contribute to the clinical
and management development of College Health care provision.
ADMINISTRATION
- Contributes
and participates in audits, evaluation and clinical standard setting
within the Practice and/or PCN.
- Accurate
and timely summarising of patient records and read-coding patient data
- Complete
all required paperwork for legal and administrative purposes in accordance
with relevant standards
- Ensure that
all practice policies are fully implemented
- Work in
accordance with all governance and internal systems relating to (but not
limited to) the management of clinical data and systems
TRAINING
AND DEVELOPMENT
Taking responsibility for own
development with relevant evidence-based knowledge and competence in all
aspects of the role to meet clinical governance guidelines for Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) and a Personal Development Plan (PDP).
Stay up to date through
attendance at any courses and/or study days necessary to ensure that
professional development requirements are met, demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking
similar work.
Subject to a
performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of
own personal and/or professional development.
Work closely with other
clinical staff and administrative managers in the setting up and/or improving
of practice systems for monitoring/measuring performance against Clinical
Governance and Quality Indicator targets
Work to deliver the NHS
contract requirements related to the practice (including the terms of the
Quality and Outcomes Framework and locally enhanced services)
Commit to take and pass the
necessary Physician Associate re-certification exams (currently every 6 years)
to maintain qualifications required to carry out duties of the role and as
statutory regulatory bodies require.
GOVERNANCE
- Produce complete and accurate records of
patient consultation, in line with best practice, confidentiality,
policies and procedures
- Deliver care according to NHS guidance, NICE
guidelines and evidence-based care
- Take part in the maintenance of quality
governance systems and processes across the Practice and its activities.
- Utilise the audit cycle as a means of
evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing
improvements where required.
- Work with other clinical teams on improving
the quality of healthcare in response to local and national policies and
initiatives as appropriate
- Evaluate patients response to health care
provision and the effectiveness of care
- Support and participate in shared learning
across the practice and wider organisation
- Manage, review and identify learning from
patient complaints, clinical incidents and near-miss events
- Awareness of statutory safeguarding,
notification processes and local guidance for children/vulnerable
patients, applying relevant policies and legislation to protect them
- Ensure compliance with policies, procedures
and guidelines for self and others, by taking action or alerting senior
management team if the practice appears to contravene policy, or if there
are concerns over any aspect of patient care.
HEALTH & SAFETY
- The post-holder will manage their own and
others health & safety and infection control as defined in the
Practices Health & Safety Policy, the Practice Health & Safety
Manual, and the Practices Infection Control Policy and published
procedures.
- Comply with Practice health and safety
policies by following agreed safe working procedures
- Awareness and compliance with national
standards of infection control, hygiene, regulatory / contractual /
professional requirements, and good practice guidelines.
- Correct personal use of Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE) and ensuring correct use of PPE by others, advising on
appropriate circumstances for use by clinicians, staff and patients.
- Reporting incidents using the organisations
Incident Reporting System
CONFIDENTIALITY
- Maintain
confidentiality of information, acting within the terms of the Data
Protection Act and Caldicott guidance on patient confidentiality at all
times.
- Maintain an
awareness of the Freedom of Information Act.
EQUALITY
AND DIVERSITY
- The
post-holder will support, promote and maintain the Practices Equality
& Diversity Policy.
- No person
whether they are staff, patient or visitor should receive less favourable
treatment because of their gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual
orientation, religion etc.
- The jobholder
must comply with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality
of employment and that services are delivered in ways that meet the
individual needs of patients and their families.
OTHER
DELEGATED DUTIES
This job description is not intended to
be exhaustive - it may be changed after consultation with the post holder. The
employee shares with the employer the responsibility for review and
modification of duties.