COPD and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Specialist Nurse/ Physiotherapist

Job responsibilities

Key Duties:

1. Provision of Specialist Clinical Services

The post-holder will:

1.1 Act as a specialist, autonomous clinician for patients with COPD both in hospital and in community settings.

1.2 To provide care to patients with chronic respiratory disease as outlined in the COPD Team standard operational procedures (SOPs) and associated team and trust policies (written in conjunction with national standards and guidelines, specialist knowledge and accepted best practice).

1.3 Take a role in the assessment and treatment of COPD patients who may have highly complex and acute/chronic presentation, to determine a clinical diagnosis, treatment and management plan through comprehensive clinical reasoning.

1.4 To perform and interpret specialist assessments of patients with COPD in acute and non-acute situations. This may include: comprehensive history taking and appropriate physical examination, a range of clinical observations including lung function testing, arterial and capillary blood gas sampling, exercise testing and functional assessment and measurement of psycho-social status.

1.5 To manage COPD patients in their own home during an acute exacerbation of their condition using specialist respiratory techniques which may include; administration of oxygen, nebulised medication and NIV as appropriate, management of sputum retention, breathlessness, fear and panic. Provide patient monitoring, patient and carer education and referral to other health care professionals when appropriate.

1.6 Evaluate the needs of individual patients planning, delivering and evaluating all elements of COPD management in a variety of settings.

1.7 To contribute to respiratory clinics where appropriate, both in acute and community settings.

1.8 To be responsible for the on-going management of a caseload of patients with chronic respiratory disease. To organise the caseload effectively and efficiently with regard to clinical priorities and time management.

1.9 To lead and develop pulmonary rehabilitation programmes in both community and hospital settings including; programme organisation, assessment, individual exercise prescription and progression, goal setting, group leadership, education, counselling and encouraging self-efficacy and self-management.

1.10 Construct specialist self-management plans for patients and assess and monitor clinical progress and adherence, identifying barriers and minimising their impact on optimal care.

1.11 To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise rehabilitation potential and ensure understanding of condition to enable effective self-management. Including use of all available resources to gain informed consent and to educate patients when there are barriers to effective communication.

1.12 To assess capacity and have the ability to work within a legal framework with patients who lack the capacity to consent to treatment.

1.13 Communicate complex patient related information effectively with MDT members across health & social services, private providers and other agencies; to ensure the delivery of a co-ordinated multidisciplinary service

1.14 Participate in MDT management of respiratory patients ensuring a best practice approach.

2. Education and Training

2.1 Participate in the Trust personal development review (PDR).

2.2 Agree service and personal objectives with the Clinical Team Lead and be responsible for self-audit to demonstrate both achievement of objectives and evidence of value to the trust.

2.3 Provide specialist advice, teaching and training of other healthcare professionals with regard to optimal management of patients with COPD on a formal and informal basis.

2.4 Advise, educate and train other members of the COPD team, as appropriate, to ensure high quality clinical care is delivered to patients.

2.5 Commit to a philosophy of care which has an emphasis on self-management and patient empowerment through undertaking health education and health promotion activities.

2.6 To be an active member of the in-service training programme by attending and delivering presentations at staff meetings, tutorials and training sessions internally and by attending external courses and utilising reflective practice to ensure continuing professional development.

2.7 To actively participate research projects where appropriate, report findings within a multidisciplinary framework. Thus facilitating evaluation of services offered, quality of care and further developing the services delivered by the COPD Team.

2.8 Act as a clinical educator for students within the team providing the appropriate level of clinical supervision, education and assessment according to the training provider standards and regulations.

3. Professional

3.1 Be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of own work; including caseload management. Ensure a high standard of clinical care is provided to your patients and support junior staff to achieve this also.

3.2 Be responsible for maintaining a high level of health and safety including comprehensive knowledge of the lone working policy.

3.3 Demonstrate a working knowledge of clinical governance and risk management strategies relevant to the role.

3.4 Be aware of Health and Safety relevant to the role and comply with any policies which may be required to maintain and improve the safety of your work area, including the prompt recording and reporting of incidents or accidents via the appropriate channel e.g. Datix.

3.5 Maintain own continuing professional development records and assume responsibility for remaining fit to practice within your profession.

3.6 Participate in COPD Team strategy group in planning and organising the delivery, standard and modernisation of the Community COPD Team services e.g. Pulmonary Rehabilitation Accreditation

3.7 Plan, organise and conduct own areas for practice-based research, including audit and service evaluation, in conjunction with the Clinical Team Lead

General Duties:

1. Be responsible for all aspects of the line management of junior practitioners, ensuring that allocated junior team members work efficiently, accurately and within their own job remit i.e. manage, delegate and direct workload during e.g. pulmonary rehabilitation classes

2. Assist the Clinical Team Lead with recruitment if appropriate

3. Participate in Triage duty

4. Advise, support and counsel junior team members in relation to personnel and professional matters. Inform the Clinical Team Lead of staff failing to met the required standard of performance and take appropriate action as required e.g. refer to the Clinical Team Lead.

5. Use trust clinical software e.g. Bluespier, MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint to produce documents e.g. reports, analyses, training materials to support the delivery of the post holders key roles and responsibilities

Skills/ Knowledge

Essential

• Experience of physical assessment and clinical management of respiratory patients
• Able to interpret national guidelines, Trust policies, procedures and guidelines related to respiratory medicine
• Able to maintain judgement and work effectively under pressure
• Able to maintain contemporaneous, accurate and up to date patient records
• Computer literacy
• Ability to act on own initiative and take responsibility for own caseload and demonstrates effective time management to balance clinical and non-clinical work
• Able to work alone and be aware of Health and Safety of lone working
• Demonstrates a commitment to personal and team continued professional development
• Demonstrates excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrates excellent public communication skills

Desirable

• Demonstrates comprehensive presentation and critical appraisal skills
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of oxygen therapy

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable hospital and/or community experience successfully delivering clinical care to general and specialist areas, including respiratory medicine, as a band 5 or above
• Able to and has demonstrable experience of working effectively both within a multi-disciplinary team and independently
• Experience of educating patients in self-management of their condition

Desirable

• Experience of working in a community setting (e.g. community hospitals, patient home visits, community pharmacy)
• Awareness and/or experience of Pulmonary Rehabilitation programmes
• Experience of audit and clinical governance within clinical practice

Other

Essential

• Holds a current valid UK driving licence and is able to travel within the post requirements
• Able to occasionally work outside of office hours to meet the demands of the post

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered Nurse or Physiotherapist with the relevant UK professional body (NMC/ HCPC)
• Meets the standards for continuing professional development as outlined by the relevant professional body

Desirable

• Relevant validated clinical course
• Formal post-graduate training qualification e.g. Accredited Clinical Educator status for physiotherapists

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Demonstrates a commitment to personal and team continued professional development
• Demonstrates excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrates excellent public communication 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).