Physician Associate

Job responsibilities

Main Responsibilities

Clinical

The post holder will, under appropriate supervision:

• Provide first point of contact for patients presenting with undifferentiated, undiagnosed problems, utilising history taking, physical examination, problem-solving and clinical decision-making skills to establish a working diagnosis and management plan working in partnership with patients.
• Undertake as agreed surgery-based consultations for emergency or routine problems including management of long term conditions. In addition, undertake telephone consultations / home visits and participate in duty rotas
• Instigate necessary invasive and non-invasive diagnostic tests or investigations and interpret findings/reports within the scope of a PA’s 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
• Refer patients directly to other services or agencies using appropriate referral pathways
• Ensure safe handover of care within and outside the practice as appropriate
• Work directly with members of the practice primary health care team and support integrated patient centred care through appropriate working with wider primary care / social care networks
• 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

Training and development

• Participate in continuing professional development opportunities to keep up-to-date with 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) utilising a reflective approach to practice. This requires 50 hours of CPD every year: a minimum of 25 hours must be in accredited direct learning programmes

• Undertake a variety of research and analysis tasks associated with the improvement of clinical care, medical diagnosis and treatment where appropriate using the following means.
• Audit of clinical practice
• Significant event review / root cause analysis
• Review of relevant literature
• Research unusual symptoms and treatment options through consultation with general practitioners, physicians and other specialists
• Promote and support a learning culture within the practice and assist in clinical instruction, mentoring and supervision of medical, nursing or physician associate students and other learners that may periodically be attached to the practice
• Contribute to regular multi-disciplinary and or practice educational meetings
• Participate in multi-disciplinary protocol and patient group directions (PGDs) development as appropriate
• 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

Administration

• Fully document all aspects of patient care and complete all required paperwork for legal and administrative purposes in accordance with relevant standards
• Work in accordance with internal administrative systems relating to but not limited to the management of clinical data,

• Send and receive written information on behalf of the practice relating to the physical and social welfare of patients
• 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 and work to deliver the NHS contract pertinent to the practice including the terms of the Quality and Outcomes Framework and locally enhanced services
• Ensure that all practice policies are fully implemented
• Support, contribute to and participate in external inspections

Professional

• Take the UK PA National Re-Certification Exam every six years - required for Physician Associates AND maintain your professional registration working within the latest Code of Professional Conduct (CIPD)
• Undertake statutory and mandatory training as required by the practice
• Demonstrate clinical leadership
• Pro-actively promote the role of the PA within the practice and externally to key stakeholders and agencies
• Respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

Health and Safety

• Comply at all times with the practice health and safety policies by following agreed safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting System (IRS)
• Comply with the Data Protection Act (1984) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).

Equality and Diversity

• Co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to support equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc.

Communication and working relationships

• Establish and maintain effective communication pathways with all practice staff and visiting clinical team members such as district nurses, modern matrons, health visitors etc.

Job Description

• This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities. There may be other duties required of the post-holder commensurate with the position. This description will be open to regular review and may be amended to take into account developments within the practice.

Our commitment to you

• We will provide a supportive learning environment, especially structured in the first preceptorship year

• We will help you set out and revise specific educational goals
• We will ensure appropriate clinical supervision
• You will receive regular appraisals,
• You will be supported to attend agreed CPD i.e. 25 hours courses/conferences and expected to do another 25 hours of learning which can be practice based audits, teaching students or personal study and reflection
• We will develop a system to facilitate a smooth process for the management of signing off X-ray requests and prescriptions

Qualifications

Essential

• Postgraduate Diploma/Master in Physician Associate from an accredited UK University
• Bachelor Degree in Life Science/Biomedical/Nursing or Allied Health Science
• Member of Faculty of Physician Managed Voluntary Register (PAMVR)
• For USA trained candidates: Current & valid certification with the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA)
• Basic or advanced life support
• Equal Opportunity training in the last three years

Experience

Essential

• Experience of general practice and/or secondary care
• Demonstrable patient assessment skills
• Any desirable/additional specialty specific requirements
• Demonstrates an in depth knowledge of related medical conditions, treatments and pharmacology
• Experience of supporting doctors in clinical decision making
• Ability to work autonomously within the scope of supervised practice
• Detailed knowledge of maintaining confidentiality and implementing data protection legislation requirements including information governance

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• Dynamic/able to use own initiative
• IT literate and proficient use of practice systems
• Good communicator; verbal/written
• Ability to teach others
• Good presentation skills
• Critical appraisal skills
• Knowledge of audit principles and evidence of participation in and completion of audit projects
• Good problem solving and decision making skills
• Ability to manage work load effectively
• A high standard of clinical skills and experience with the ability to adapt to different situations
• Willingness to work in the best interest of the patient
• Team player with the ability to liaise effectively with colleagues and other members of the multi-disciplinary team
• Ability to liaise effectively with hospitals and other outside agencies

Work-related attributes, qualities, competencies

Essential

• Adhere to strict confidentiality
• Reliable, punctual, hard worker, team player
• Self-motivated
• Strong communication skills
• Flexible and willing to contribute to the success of the team

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).