Job responsibilities
POST: Senior Respiratory Clinical
Physiologist
BANDING: Band 6
ACCOUNTABLE TO: Manager of Pulmonary Function
& Respiratory Diagnostics / ServiceLeads
Job Summary
The post-holder will contribute to the
provision of a comprehensive respiratory andoesophageal service.
This service will include the following diagnostic
and therapeutic modalities (in accordance with NICE guidelines), although this
list is not exhaustive:
Lung volumes and forced expiratory flows,
respiratory gas exchange, blood gases, includingroutine maintenance and internal and external
quality control, oximetry, plethysmography,oesophageal studies, cardio respiratory
exercise studies, diagnostic sleep studies, challengetesting.
Clinical
physiologist led community spirometry service together with diagnostic
reporting.
The post-holder must actively participate in
all ongoing and development of research,
Clinical trials and equipment evaluation.
Regular teaching and training of trainees,
students, medical staff and other healthcareprofessionals.
The post-holder must provide a full diagnostic
reporting service for all delivered tests.
Duties and Responsibilities
Clinical Responsibility
Assess,
determine and perform the appropriate respiratory or oesophageal functiontest.
Identify
possible contra-indications to any type of modality (respiratory oroesophageal) investigation.
Produce
reports of tests performed/interpretation of results.
Verbal
and written interpretation to referring medical team and other healthcareprofessionals where appropriate for simple and specialist assessments.
As
a minimum be trained in Basic Life Support (Will be required to undertake ILStraining for Cardio-pulmonary exercise
testing).
Demonstrate
IT skills in data input and ability to produce clinical/departmentalreports/spreadsheets, and a sound knowledge of clinical software related
toindividual analysers and specialist equipment.
Assess
and maintain equipment (static and portable) during all respiratory oroesophageal investigation.
Record
mechanical and electronic calibration of all equipment prior to clinical use.
Analyse,
diagnose and report any equipment faults.
Handle
and store equipment and consumables within accepted safe limits accordingto national regulations, departmental and trust policy for health and
safetyrequirements.
Demonstrate
capability in undertaking clinical governance, audit and researchprojects contributing to the overall departmental strategy.
Knowledge, Education, Experience and Training
Undergraduate
degree in clinical physiology or Practitioner Training Programme
(PTP) qualification or equivalent science-related subject.
Professional
examinations
ARTP
Parts I & II
Associate
& Practitioner Certificates
2
years post-qualification experience as Band 5 respiratory physiologist.
Teach
and mentor junior/student healthcare scientists and other healthcareprofessionals the principles and practicalities of basic and some
advanced lungfunction assessments.
Communication and Relationships
- Receive and assist
patients +/- carers for lung function or oesophageal studies.
- Obtain additional
information to assist with assessment, planning and preparation of
lung function or oesophageal investigation.
- Communicate
requirements for accurate performance of appropriate investigations.
- Provide clinical
interpretations and recommendations on results, investigations and quality control (both internal and external).
- Provide advice to
healthcare colleagues on existing or developing protocols relating to lung or oesophageal function including, adverse incidents and legal/regulatory procedures.
- Provide advice to
referring clinicians, colleagues and external stakeholders to determine respiratory/oesophageal investigations to meet clinical needs
Service Development and Improvement
- Ensure continual
service development and improvement:
- through
maintaining up to date knowledge of specialist area
- obtaining
membership and securing roles within the national professional body and/or
international societies
- be regulated via a
voluntary/mandatory register of practitioners, e.g. RCCP, HCPC
- Ensure equipment
used in lung function assessments is functioning correctly by performing a number of calibration and validation techniques including
mechanical verification and biological control procedures for quality assurance and
quality control
- Ensure any faulty
equipment is reported to senior colleagues and corrective maintenance is undertaken
- Occasionally, on
the request of senior staff within the department, undertake review of departmental standard operating procedures to ensure up to date and
fits with current best practice
- Ensure that all
consumable items required to maintain an efficiently running service are kept stocked and communicate to senior colleagues when ordering of
such items are required
- Maintenance of
Continual Professional Development
Research and Development
- Contributes to
departmental research where appropriate, examples include:
- Performing
investigations for commercial research
- Undertaking
in-house audit
- Presentation of
outcomes of audit/non-commercial/academic research at
national and/or international meetings
GENERAL STATEMENTS
CONFIDENTIALITY
All employees must adhere
to policies and procedures relating to Information Governance, Confidentiality
and Information Security.
RISK MANAGEMENT
The Trust is committed to
approaching the control of risks in a strategic and organised manner. The post
holder must be aware of their individual responsibilities as detailed in the
Trusts Risk Management, Health & Safety and Incident policies, and those
under the Health and Safety at Work Act. This includes the reporting of any
untoward incident, accident, potential or actual hazard identified.
SAFEGUARDING
All staff are required to
be familiar with the arrangements for safeguarding children, young people and
vulnerable adults and support the organisation in promoting the welfare of
children, young people and vulnerable adults.
Staff working directly
with children, young people and vulnerable adults will have a responsibility to
ensure safeguarding and promoting their welfare forms an integral part of their
duties.
Staff who come into
contact with children, vulnerable adults, parents and carers in the course of
their work and/or have access to records will have responsibilities to
safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable
adults.
Staff who come into
contact in the course of their duties, with parents, carers or other
significant adults or children, young people and vulnerable adults should
always be mindful of safeguarding and promotion of the welfare of these
individuals.
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
The Trust is a Health
Promoting Hospital. The Trust expects that when you are presented with opportunities
to improve the lifestyle of our patients you seek help from appropriately
trained clinical staff to ensure patients are supported and assisted in making
the necessary lifestyle changes. This is in accordance with best practice as
described in the DoH white paper Choosing Health Making Healthy Choices
Easier.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
The Liverpool Heart &
Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is committed to achieving equal
opportunities. All employees are expected to observe this policy in relation to
the public and fellow employees.
All staff are expected to
adhere to, and act in accordance with, the values & behaviours of the
Trust.
This document is intended
to be used as a guide to the general scope of duties involved in this post. It
is not exhaustive and should not therefore be used as a rigid specification. It
will be kept under review and amended as required in consultation with the post
holder.
