Job responsibilities
Purpose
As part of a multi-disciplinary team, plan,
co-ordinate, deliver and evaluate person-centred and evidence-based palliative care
to patients, families and carers.
Contribute to the Hospice vision of providing
excellence in special palliative care.
Act as a role model to support other
members of the team to ensure that high standards of care are delivered.
KEY
RESPONSIBILITIES (which include, but not limited to):
Being
an Accountable Professional
Understand and act in accordance with The NMC Code: Professional
standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives and nursing
associates, and fulfil all registration requirements.
Understand and apply relevant legal, regulatory and governance
requirements, policies, and ethical frameworks, including any mandatory
reporting duties, to all areas of practice.
Use appropriate research methods, ethics and governance in order to critically
analyse, safely use, share and apply research findings to promote and inform best
nursing practice.
Communicate effectively, to an advanced level, using a range of skills
and strategies with colleagues, wider MDT, external contacts, patients and their
families.
Develop, manage and maintain appropriate relationships with people, their
families, carers and colleagues.
Demonstrate the numeracy, literacy, digital and technological skills required
to ensure safe and effective nursing practice and to keep complete, clear,
accurate and timely records.
Take responsibility for continuous self-reflection, seeking and
responding to support and feedback to develop professional knowledge and skills,
including clinical supervision.
Promoting
Health and Preventing Ill Health
Use appropriate communication skills and strength based approaches to
support and enable people to make informed choices about their care to manage
health challenges in order to have satisfying and fulfilling lives within the
limitations caused by reduced capability, ill health and disability.
Provide information in accessible ways to help people understand and make
decisions about their health, treatment choices, illness and care, and death.
Protect health through understanding and applying the principles of
infection prevention and control.
Assessing
Needs and Planning Care
Identify and assess the needs of people and families for care at the end
of life, including requirements for palliative care and decision-making related
to their treatment and care preferences.
Accurately process all information gathered during the assessment process
to identify needs for individualised nursing care and develop person centred
evidence-based plans for nursing interventions with agreed goals.
Work in partnership with people, families and carers to continuously
monitor, evaluate and reassess the effectiveness of all agreed nursing care
plans and care, sharing decision-making and readjusting agreed goals,
documenting progress and decisions made.
Effectively assess a persons capacity to make decisions about their own
care and to give or withhold consent. Understand and apply the relevant laws about
mental capacity when making decisions in relation to people who do not have
capacity.
Recognise and assess people at risk of harm and the situations that may
put them at risk, ensuring prompt action is taken to safeguard those who are
vulnerable.
Providing
and Evaluating Care
Apply an understanding of what is important to people and how to use this
knowledge to ensure their needs for safety, dignity, privacy, comfort and sleep
can be met, acting as a role model for others in providing evidence-based
person-centred care.
Prioritise what is important to people and their families when providing
evidence-based person-centred nursing care at end of life including the care of
people who are dying, families, the deceased and the bereaved.
Understand and apply the principles of safe and effective administration
and optimisation of medicines in accordance with local and national policies
and demonstrate proficiency and accuracy when calculating dosages of prescribed
medicines.
Co-ordinate and undertake the processes and procedures involved in routine
planning and management of safe discharge home or transfer of people between
care settings.
Monitor and evaluate the quality of care delivered by self, others in the
team and lay carers.
Leading
and Managing Nursing Care and Working in Teams
Demonstrate an understanding of the roles, responsibilities and scope of
practice of all members of the clinical team and how to make best use of the contributions
of others involved in providing care.
Safely and effectively lead and manage the nursing care of a group of
people, demonstrating appropriate prioritisation, delegation and assignment of
care responsibilities to others involved in providing care.
Contribute to the education, training and development of colleagues and
students.
Support and supervise students in the delivery of nursing care, promoting
reflection and providing constructive feedback, and evaluating and documenting
their performance.
Guide, challenge, support and motivate individuals and interact
confidently with other members of the care team.
Effectively and responsibly use a range of digital technologies to
access, input, share and apply information and data within teams and between organisations.
Improving
Safety and Quality of Care
Understand and apply the principles of health and safety legislation and
regulations to maintain safe work and care environments. Identify the need to
make improvements and proactively respond to potential hazards that may affect
the safety of self or others.
Understand the relationship between safe staffing levels, appropriate
skills mix, safety and quality of care, recognising risks to quality of care
and escalating concerns appropriately.
Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of improvement
methodologies, participate in all stages of audit activity and identify and
participate in appropriate quality improvement strategies to bring about continuous
improvement.
Identify, report and critically reflect on near misses, critical
incidents, major incidents and serious adverse events in order to learn from
them and influence future practice.
Acknowledge the need to accept and manage uncertainty. Use appropriate
strategies that develop resilience in self and others.
Coordinating
Care
Apply the principles of partnership, collaboration and interagency working
across all relevant sectors for the benefit of patients and the Hospice.
Respond to the challenges of providing safe, effective and person-centred
nursing care for people who have complex care needs.
Support patients and families with a range of care needs to maintain optimal
independence and avoid unnecessary interventions and disruptions to their lives.
Facilitate equitable access to care for people who are vulnerable or have
a disability, demonstrate the ability to advocate on their behalf when required,
and make necessary reasonable adjustments to the assessment, planning and
delivery of their care.
