Practice Nurse

Job responsibilities

Clinical Practice

The post-holder will be expected to:

• Offer a holistic approach to travel health by providing comprehensive advice to patients prior to travel.
• Offer advice about childhood and adult vaccinations and ensure vaccines are administered under patient group directions.
• Run well-person clinics and health promotion programmes. Provide a holistic assessment of the patient and give lifestyle advice on diet, smoking, alcohol intake and exercise, which will be able to facilitate change.
• Assess problems presented both opportunistically and in clinic times by patients, being able to offer solutions to minor illnesses.
• Be able to document consultations according to NMC guidelines.
• Ensure awareness of statutory and local clinical protection procedures, including systems of referral.
• Be able to recognise signs and symptoms of child abuse.
• Perform a holistic assessment of patients attending for ear irrigation, cervical cytology smear tests and wound management. Implement wound care in line with current evidence based guidelines.
• Perform suture removal.
• Be able to recognize and manage anaphylaxis, according to current UK guidelines.
• Be able to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation according to current UK guidelines.
• Be able to obtain and document informed consent, either verbal or written.
• Ensure infection control guidelines are maintained.
• Be able to monitor and manage maintenance of stock and equipment, including refrigeration, sterilisation and emergency equipment.
• Assist with the management of long term conditions and undertake annual reviews for patients.
• Ensure up to date and aware of Safeguarding adults and children.
• Up to date with Family planning, including pill checks and depo injections
• Mental health, providing depo injections.

Communication

• Utilise and demonstrate appropriate communication skills to ensure patients are fully informed and are able to consent to treatment
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication and taking into account cultural background, preferred method of communication and different levels of understanding
• Communicate effectively with members of the healthcare team, including external agencies
• Anticipate barriers to effective communication with patients, carers and colleagues and take action to improve communication
• Attend and contribute to practice meetings

Professional and Quality Role

• Recognise and work within own competence and current professional code of conduct as regulated by the NMC
• Maintain professional registration
• Recognise ones own limitations and be willing to ask for help
• Contribute to the practice achieving quality targets in order to achieve high standards of patient care and service delivery
• Assist the multi-professional team to develop and run current/new patient services
• Prioritise, organize and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality
• Deliver care in conjunction with the multi-professional team according to NICE guidelines and current evidence
• Participate in continuing professional development opportunities, as agreed in annual appraisals, to ensure that competence in all aspects of the role is maintained and in line with the practice development and that of affiliated network activity
• Keep accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of all patient interactions, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures
• Monitor effectiveness of their own clinical practice through quality assurance strategies such as audit and peer review
• Keep up to date professionally with relation to current evidence and also health-related policy and consider implementation strategies for new initiatives and ways of working
• Work collaboratively within and external to the practice, including the local network to develop new and innovative systems of providing patient care and evaluating such initiatives
• Support and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organization, including participation in significant event meetings
• Engage with and ensure actions from significant event meetings are implemented and reviewed

Team working Role

• Participate in supervision and mentoring of junior staff, GP registrars, medical students and administrative staff.
• Participate in whole practice meetings.
• Management of Information
• Use technology and appropriate practice agreed software to aid planning, implementation and monitoring of care
• Keep accurate and timely records as episodes of patient care to ensure quality and aid accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes
• Participate in quality searches and presentation of clinical data to aid quality improvement
• Ensure accurate and confidential completion and transfer of patient information
• Be familiar with and act in accordance with NMC record keeping Guidance for Nurses and Midwives

Learning and Development

• Participate in annual appraisal
• Assess own learning needs and undertake learning/continuing professional development as agreed in annual appraisal and in conjunction with the Partners. Personal development will be encouraged and supported by the practice and should be in accordance with practice requirements
• Remain up to date with professional/clinical developments to inform safe and effective practice
• Participate in education and training of all members of the healthcare team including GP registrars and medical students
• Be willing to develop your own role in line with new developments within the practice. If expansion of the current role is required, full training and support will be given
• Ensure relevant professional development needs are met to meet NMC requirements- the practice will support these

Equality & Diversity

• Act in a way that promotes equality and diversity amongst patients, carers and colleagues, recognising the importance of individuals rights and interpreting them in a way that is consistent with current legislation, practice policies and procedures
• Respect the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
• Accept the right of individuals to choose their care providers, participate in and refuse care

Health and Safety/Risk Management

• Comply with the practices Health and Safety policy and the Infection Control Policy, following agreed safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the practices reporting system
• Engage in significant event meetings and implement recommendations in partnership with the practice team
• Comply with the Data Protection Act (1984) and the Access to Health records Act (1990)

Confidentiality

• In the performance of duties outlined in this job description, the post holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients, their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers.
• They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organization. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the practice may only be divulged to authorized persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive

This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities of the post holder.

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 development within the practice and of the individual. All members of staff should be willing and prepared to take on additional duties or relinquish existing duties in order to maintain effective patient care and efficient running of the practice.

Person specification

Essential

• Registered Nurse
• Clinical Knowledge & Skills
• Essential
• Wound care/removal of sutures and staples
• ECGs
• Chaperone procedure
• Requesting pathology tests and processing the results, advising patients accordingly
• Travel medicine
• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Immunisations (routine, childhood and travel)
• Womens health (Cervical cytology, contraception etc.)
• Understands the importance of evidence-based practice
• Broad knowledge of clinical governance
• Ability to record accurate clinical notes
• Ability to work within own scope of practice and to understand when to refer to GPs
• Understands the requirement for PGDs and associated policy
• Other skills
• Excellent communication skills (written and oral)
• Strong IT skills
• Clear, polite telephone manner
• Competent in the use of Office and Outlook
• EMIS user skills
• Effective time management (planning and organising)
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously
• Good interpersonal skills
• Experience of working in a primary care environment
• Experience of chronic disease management

Desirable

• Post graduate diploma or degree (Primary Care)
• Knowledge of public health issues in the local area
• Awareness of issues within the wider health arena
• Experience of working as a practice nurse or community nurse
• Basic IT skills

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).