Highly Specialist Cardiac Physiologist (XR07)

Job description

Job responsibilities

Principal Duties & Areas of Responsibility

Clinical Duties

To be professionally and legally accountable for all aspect of own work, including the management of patients in your care.

Participates in rotational requirements within the cardio-respiratory department where required. On call and 24/7 provision of acute emergency services may be required (e.g., Cardiac Catheter Labs and/or Implantable Cardiac Devices). Demonstrating a high level of autonomy, often giving advice to medical staff with limited specialist knowledge thus directly influencing patient care outcomes.

Routinely undertakes assessment of both inpatients and outpatients prior to a range of investigations and uses own discretion in order to ensure the patient is suitable for the investigation.

Gives lead specialist advice during highly complex situations where analytical judgement is required to all other members of the multi-disciplinary team including consultant physicians.

Carries out all aspects of clinical work as approved by their Line Manager.

Lead Specialist in own clinical field. Implements change in own specialist area based on own experience and evidence-based practice.

Works within and towards national guidelines and directives, e.g., NICE guidelines.

Works as an autonomous practitioner within established departmental policies and those recognised by international organisations e.g., American Heart Association, Heart Rhythm Society - UK, Association for Respiratory Technology and Physiology, and Academy for Healthcare Science

Communicates with all members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure the best possible care for patients, including: negotiating, reassurance, empathy, and persuasiveness.

Communicates sensitive information about routine and complex investigations to patients and relatives/carers including children and those with learning and/or physical disabilities.

Calibrates and manipulates a wide range of complex, expensive, technical equipment which process, create, update and store information.

Performs / provides factual reports on a number of the following investigations on a region-wide range of patients including acutely ill paediatric and elderly patients and those with a range of physical and learning disabilities:

These investigations would be dependent on the applicants skill set and area of clinical expertise (Cardiac, Respiratory or Sleep).

- Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX)

- 12 lead electrocardiographs (ECG)

- Advanced ambulatory monitoring techniques

- Advanced haemodynamic assessments/calculations

- Capillary blood gases

- Cardiac ultrasound imaging (TTE)

- Complex Electrophysiology studies and 3D mapping studies

- Complex Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs) implantations

- Complex Permanent Pacemaker (PPM) implantations

- Complex PPM/ICD lead extractions

- Exercise testing under Medical supervision

- Field exercise tests

- Fitness to fly assessments

- Full pulmonary function testing

- Mannitol challenge testing

- Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)

- Physiologist led Exercise Tolerance Testing (ETT)

- Physiologist led PPM and ICD follow-up

- Respiratory muscle assessments

- Routine cardiac angiography and haemodynamic assessment

- Sleep physiology analysis and CPAP.

- Temporary pacemaker insertions

- Therapeutic radiofrequency ablation

Reports equipment faults in accordance with departmental policy.

Demonstrates personal duty of care for safe use of expensive and highly complex equipment. Is responsible for ensuring that others are fully trained in the safe use of such equipment within their specialist area.

Responsible for maintenance of stock levels by ordering from pre-agreed tender schedules and by seeking new resources as service demands change.

Responsible for day-to-day security of expensive equipment, e.g., portable devices.

Professional

Responsible for maintaining own technical competencies in clinical areas.

Responsible for reporting clinical incidents and adverse events to the Service Manager.

Maintains professional registration; RCCP, AHCS, HCPC.

Responsible for formal mentorship and coordination of training for designated staff in training within own specialist area.

Provides highly specialist training on a day-to-day basis for doctors and physiologists.

Be an active member of the in-service training programme by attendance at, and participation in, in-service training programmes, tutorials, individual training sessions, external courses and peer review.

Undertakes Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in accordance with Personal Development Plan (PDP) as developed with Line Manager.

Attends and participates in departmental staff meetings.

Maintains and develops current knowledge of evidence-based practice in relevant clinical area and collaborates with the Service Manager towards changes that may impact the wider service provision.

Frequently undertakes collection of data for use in audit, research projects and equipment testing.

Organisational

Ability to prioritise and organise the clinical caseload within a designated area of Cardio-respiratory. Includes planning and organisation of expected and acute workload and deployment of more junior staff within that area.

Accountable for the delivery and day to day management of the delegated area of responsibility within their speciality.

Other

To be able to exercise initiative as an autonomous practitioner in specialist areas of the Cardio-respiratory Department. The individual uses his/her discretion to re-adjust plans as the clinical situation/need of the patient changes.

Lead specialist in own clinical field, demonstrating highly specialist in-depth knowledge and theory.

Communicates with all members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure the best possible care for the patient. Including giving detailed advice to other specialist professions which will influence patient care/outcomes. Communication skills including:

- Negotiating, e.g., with physicians who demand investigations not achievable within the service limitations.

- Reassurance, e.g., to patients who are anxious about their clinical findings.

- Persuasiveness, e.g., to young children who are scared to undergo clinical procedures.

Immediate Life Support training essential during procedures performed on acutely ill patients and those at very high risk of sudden cardiac death.

To communicate information about specialist investigations to patients and relatives/carers including children and those with learning and/or physical disabilities.

Performs, analyses and interprets a wide range of highly specialist and complex investigations relevant to specialist clinical area. Generates factual reports that are documented in patient clinical notes and/or on relevant databases and directly used to influence patient management. These sources are used to aid audit and compilation of statistical information

Has highly developed level of sensory skills and good hand to eye co-ordination in order to immediately analyse and respond to complex life-threatening physiological signs. Following interpretation of these the Physiologist uses judgemental skills in order to make instantaneous decisions about further patient care.

Has a high level of manual dexterity with enhanced precision and timing skills in order to ensure the accurate application of a range of diagnostic tools, e.g., measurement of cardiac intervals to the nearest millisecond during electrophysiology studies (EPS).

Expected to undertake informal training by means of periodic in-house assessments.

Is forced to deal with confrontation from industry representatives who can be demanding and intrusive.

To comply with the Trusts manual handling policy at all times.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Highly specialist clinical skills and knowledge within the relevant field
• Demonstrates leadership
• Supervisory/training experience

Skills & behaviours

Essential

• Promotes the importance of service quality through QA.
• Accepting of change and open to new ideas and approaches.

Qualifications

Essential

• BSc in Clinical Physiology, or equivalent qualification
• Professional registration (RCCP, AHCS or HCPC) or; able to evidence registration would be achieved within 6 months of starting in role
• Professional qualification (BHRS, IBHRE or EHRA) or; able to evidence working to that level

Desirable

• Masters level study
• HCPC Clinical Scientist registration

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Address

Leeds General Infirmary

Great George Street

Leeds

LS1 3EX

Employer's website

https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)