Job responsibilities
Hours:
Negotiable between 25-37.5 hour per week
Job Summary
The post holder will always work within the boundaries of their professional body. The post holder will review patients presenting with minor illness and minor injuries that have been booked into their designated clinics using the local template system. The patients presenting needs will be assessed using history taking and clinical assessment. A diagnosis and plan of care will be provided in partnership with the patient. Safe clinical decision making that fits with national and local guidance will be demonstrated. There is a requirement that extra or emergency patients may also need to be seen. The Nurse Practitioner will be required to prioritise and triage the needs of the patients accordingly making any necessary referrals for investigations in the appropriate manner. Patients needing referral to secondary care can be made using the referral pathways on Ardens. If referral criteria are not met but the referral is still deemed necessary then advice from Duty GP is required.
Clinical Role
The post holder will:
- Provide telephone and face to face reviews for the patients registered with Combe Down Surgery to include those patients who have undifferentiated or undiagnosed problems.
- Make professionally autonomous decisions using broad and in-depth theoretical knowledge base.
- Use skills in history taking, physical examination, problem solving and clinical decision making to establish a diagnosis and management of care acceptable to the patient.
- Carryout or organise necessary invasive and non-invasive diagnostic tests or investigations and interpret their results.
- Independently prescribe within the requirements of their professional body to ensure the prescribing is required, safe and appropriate whilst meeting national and local guidance
- Ensure that the care delivered is evidenced based, cost effective and in keeping with local/ surgery policies and procedures.
- To maintain accurate documentation in keeping with the NMC guidance.
- Help promote health and well-being to patients of Combe Down Surgery.
- Assist in the ongoing management of patients with long-term conditions.
- Carry out asthma annual reviews.
Professional/Organisational Role
Work as an effective team member and promote a multi-agency collaborative approach to health care.
Follow agreed protocols with referral to senior nurse or GPs as appropriate.
Ensure that accurate record keeping, and communication is maintained to ensure efficient evaluation and monitoring.
Advise senior nurse of potential problems or errors within range of assigned tasks.
Attend and participate in practice meetings as per contract.
To promote clinical excellence and personal development beyond the requirements of NMC revalidation.
Work with the practice to explore and develop new ways of working in keeping with the changing healthcare needs of the patients of Combe Down Surgery.
Monitor the effectiveness of own practice by means of audit, bench marking and reviews for quality assurance.
Lead the practice in ensuring that infection control standards are met in accordance with the Social Care Act 2008.
Education, Training and Research
Maintain professional registration.
Monitor the effectiveness of her/his own clinical practice through participation in quality assurance strategies such as audit and peer review.
Take responsibility for own professional development, undertaking training for specific clinical tasks.
Use reflective practice to support and maintain own professional standards and development.
Participate in research programmes as appropriate.
Attend all mandatory training courses and updates. Identify and attend any study days as deemed appropriate in agreement with your line manager.
Attend performance and development reviews with your line manager.
Develop own portfolio in preparation for nurse revalidation.
Confidentiality
- In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately.
- In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, Practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the Practice as a business organisation.All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.
- Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the Practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the Practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.
Health & Safety
The post-holder will implement and lead on a full range of promotion and management their own and others health and safety and infection control as defined in the Practices Health & Safety Policy, the Practices Health & Safety Manual, and the Practices Infection Control Policy and published procedures. This will include (but will not be limited to):
- Using personal security systems within the workplace according to Practice guidelines.
- Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness and regulatory/contractual/professional requirements, and good practice guidelines.
- Responsible for the correct and safe management of the specimens process including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct and clean containers, storage and transport arrangements.
- Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks across clinical and patient process.
- Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills, and initiate and manage the training of others across the full range of infection control and patient processes.
- Monitoring practice facilities and equipment in relation to infection control, ensuring that provision of hand cleansing facilities, wipes etc are sufficient to ensure a good clinical working environment. Lack of facilities to be escalated as appropriate.
- Safe management of sharps procedures including training, use, storage and disposal.
- Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile, and safe way, free from hazards. Initiation of remedial/corrective action where needed or escalation to responsible management.
- Actively identifying, reporting, and correction of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised.
- Keeping own work areas and general/patient areas generally clean, sterile, identifying issues and hazards / risks in relation to other work areas within the business.
- Routine management of own team/team areas, and maintenance of work space standards
- Waste management including collection, handling, segregation, container management, storage and collection.
- Spillage control procedures, management and training.
- Decontamination control procedures, management and training, and equipment maintenance
- Maintenance of sterile environments.
Equality and Diversity
The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:
- Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with Practice procedures and policies, and current legislation.
- Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues.
- Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.
Personal/Professional Development
The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the Practice as part of this employment, such training to include:
- Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development.
- Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.
Quality
The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the Practice, and will:
- Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk.
- Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision.
- Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance.
- Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs.
- Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.
Communication
The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:
- Communicate effectively with other team members.
- Communicate effectively with patients and carers.
- Recognize peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.
Contribution to the Implementation of Services
The post-holder will:
- Apply Practice policies, standards and guidance.
- Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work.
- Participate in audit where appropriate.