Job responsibilities
JOB TITLE: Acute Care Nurse
REPORTS TO: Nurse Team Leader
HOURS: Part time (hours negotiable)
Job summary:
The post holder will typically be an experienced nurse working autonomously to their maximum level of competence, providing first contact care to presenting patients either face to face or in a telephone triage role. Working closely with GPs and the wider Practice Nurse Team the role will involve initial history taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment, evaluation of patient care, leading to the development of a treatment plan. They will demonstrate safe clinical decision-making and expert care for patients within primary care. The post holder will need to prioritise and triage the needs of patients accordingly making any necessary referrals for investigations in the appropriate manner. In addition as a senior member of the team you will support other nurses and GPs with a wide range of general nursing activities and chronic disease management.
Job responsibilities:
Diagnosing and treating patients presenting with minor illness
- Triage and treat patients wishing to see a health care professional making any necessary referrals to other members of the primary health care team
- Ensure clinical practice is safe and effective and remains within boundaries of competence and acknowledges limitations
- Make professionally autonomous decisions for which he/she is accountable
- Provide first point of contact within the practice for patients presenting with undiagnosed problems, making use of skills in history taking, physical examination, problem-solving and clinical decision-making to establish a diagnosis and management plan
- Advise patients on general health care and minor ailments with referral to other members of the primary and secondary health care team as necessary for:
- ECG
- Phlebotomy
- Routine injections
- Contraception
- Injuries including dressings
- Chronic Disease Management
During a typical week your role will comprise a mixture of acute care and face to face primary care general nursing duties in line with the post holders skills and responsibilities.
Pathological specimens and investigatory procedures
- Undertake the collection of pathological specimens including intravenous blood samples, swabs etc. Perform investigatory procedures requested by the GPs
Administration and professional responsibilities
- Maintain their professional registration
- Work within the latest NMC Code of Professional Conduct
- Participate in the administrative and professional responsibilities of the practice team
- Ensure accurate and legible notes of all consultations and treatments are recorded in the patients notes
- Ensure the clinical computer system is kept up to date with accurate details recorded and amended
- Ensure appropriate items of service claims are made accurately, reporting any problems to the practice administrator
- Ensure accurate completion of all necessary documentation associated with patient health care and registration with the practice
- Ensure collection and maintenance of statistical information required for regular and ad hoc reports and audit
- Attend and participate in practice meetings as required
- Restocking and maintenance of clinical areas and consulting rooms
Supplies and equipment
- Maintenance of equipment and stock relating to patient care
Training and personal development
- Training requirements will be monitored by yearly appraisal and will be in accordance with practice requirements. Personal development will be encouraged and supported by the practice. It is the individuals responsibility to remain up to date with recent developments.
- Participate in the education and training of students of all disciplines and the introduction of all members of the practice staff where appropriate
- Maintain continued education by attendance at courses and study days as deemed useful or necessary for professional development ensuring PREP requirements are met.
- If it is necessary to expand the role to include additional responsibilities, full training will be given.
- Develop and maintain a Personal Learning Plan and the requirements of NMC revalidation.
Liaison and Communication
- Work within the practice multi-disciplinary team.
- As well as the nursing team there is a need to work closely with reception, particularly the telephone Hub and general office staff to ensure the smooth running of the practice, reporting any problems encountered to the relevant person.
- There is also the need to establish and maintain good liaison with other surgeries.
- Flexibility to work at both of the practices sites Liphook and Liss and at other surgeries as part of a hub and spoke model of care within the local natural community
- Undertake extended hours clinics as required by the practice currently Monday evenings and Saturday mornings as an illustrative guide.
- The post-holder will establish and maintain effective communication pathways with colleagues, patients and their carers, recognising the need for flexibility to overcome different levels of understanding and cultural backgrounds.
Meetings
- It will be necessary to attend and contribute to various practice meetings as requested.
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 support the nurse team leader in the implementation of a full range of promotion and management their own and others health and safety and infection control as defined in the practice Health & Safety policy, the practice Health & Safety manual, and the practice 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
Correct usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
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.
Safe management of sharps procedures including 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.
Undertaking periodic infection control training (annually)
Waste management including collection, handling, segregation, container management, storage and collection
Spillage control procedures and management. Decontamination control procedures, management and equipment maintenance
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:
- Contribute to the practice achieving its quality targets to sustain the high standards of patient care and service delivery
- 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
