Practice Nurse

at  Everest House Surgery

Key responsibilities: Clinical practice Assess, plan, develop, implement, and evaluate programmes to promote health and well-being, and prevent adverse effects on health and well-being. Implement and evaluate individual treatment plans for patients with long-term conditions. Identify, and manage as appropriate, treatment plans for patients at risk of developing a long-term condition. Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care.
Support patients to adopt health promotion strategies that encourage patients to live healthily and apply principles of self-care. Deliver opportunistic health promotion. Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side effects and interactions. Assess and care for patients presenting with uncomplicated wounds.
Support and manage health needs of women presenting for cervical cytology consultations. Recognise, assess, and refer patients presenting with mental health needs in accordance with the National Service Framework (NSF) for Mental Health Implement and participate in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children. Advise, support and, where appropriate, administer vaccinations for patients travelling abroad. Communication Utilise and demonstrate sensitive communications styles, to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment.
Communicate with and support patients who are receiving bad news. Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural backgrounds, and preferred ways of communicating. Utilise communication skills to support patients to adhere to prescribed treatment regimens. Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication.
Estimate and maintain effective communication with individuals and groups within the practice environment and with external stakeholders. Act as an advocate when representing the patients and colleagues viewpoints to others. Deliver a quality service Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Produce accurate, contemporaneous, and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures.
Prioritise, organise, and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality. Deliver care according to the NSF and the NICE guidelines and evidence-based care. Assess effectiveness and care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking, and formal evaluation. Participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the organisation and its activities.
Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required. In partnership with other clinical teams, collaborate on improving the quality of health care, responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate. Evaluate the patients response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care. Support and participate in the shared learning across the practice and wider organisation.
Participate in the management, review, and identify learning from patient complaints, clinical incidents and near-miss events utilising a structured framework (e.g. root-cause analysis). Participate in the performance monitoring review of the team, providing feedback as appropriate. Understand and apply legal policy that supports the identification of vulnerable and abused children and adults, being aware of statutory child/vulnerable adult health procedure and local guidance.
Work within the policies relating to domestic violence, vulnerable adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour and refer as appropriate. Personal and people development Take responsibility for own development, learning and performance including participating in clinical supervision and acting as a positive role model. Support the development of others in order to maximise potential. Actively promote the workplace as a learning environment, encouraging everyone to learn from each other and from external good practice.
Encourage others to make realistic self-assessment of their application of knowledge and skills, challenging complacency and actions that are not in the interest of the public and/or users of services. Understand own responsibilities and accountability in the delivery of GPN services to patients, ensuring that the needs of the patient are the priority. Participate in planning and implementing changes within the area of care and responsibility. Work with other nurses and practice teams to ensure sufficient staff of appropriate ability, quality and skill-mix are available to meet the needs of patients.
Contribute and participate in the development of local guidelines, protocols, and standards. Participate in the engagement of practice-based commissioning or similar initiatives. Critically evaluate and review innovations and developments that are relevant to own practice. Keep up to date with new developments locally and nationally identifying those that will enhance the teams work.
Ensure awareness of sources of support and guidance (e.g. patient advice and liaison service-PALS) and provide information in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any difficulties and referring where appropriate. Promote the role of the GPN in the provision of care. Team working Understand own role and scope in the organisation and identify how this may develop over time.
Work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring mechanisms to develop new ways of working. Delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence of those taking on delegated duties. Ensure clear understanding and utilisation of referral mechanisms with the practice. Accept delegation from other nurses, prioritise own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded in own practice.
Work effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery. Participate in team activities that create opportunities to improve patient care. Participate in and support local projects as agreed with the practice management team. Management of risk Manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients.
Monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures, and guidelines. Ensure safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs is undertaken. Where appropriate, oversee the monitoring, stock control and documentation of controlled drug usage according to legal requirements. Undertake mandatory and statutory training.
Apply infection control measures within the practice according to local and national guidelines. Apply policies that reduce environmental health risks, are culturally sensitive and increase access to health care for all. Participate in the local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice. Utilising information Use technology as an aid to management in planning, implementation, and monitoring, presenting and communicating information.
Review and process data using accurate Snomed codes about patients in order to ensure easy and accurate retrieval for monitoring and audit processes. Manage information searches using the internet and local library databases, for example, the retrieval of relevant information for patients on their condition. Understand own and others responsibility to the individual organisation regarding the freedom of information act. Collate, analyse and present clinical data and information to the team using appropriate charts and/or graphs to enhance care.
Learning and Development Act as a mentor to students, assessing competence against set standards as requested and if appropriately qualified. Disseminate learning and information gained to other teams in order to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments. Assess own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate. Make effective use of learning opportunities within and outside the workplace, evaluating their effectiveness and feeding back relevant information.
Provide an educational role to patients, carers, families, and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning. Equality and Diversity Identify patterns of discrimination, take action to overcome this, and promote diversity and quality of opportunity. Enable others to promote equality and diversity in a non-discriminatory culture. Support people who need assistance in exercising their rights.
Monitor and evaluate adherence to local chaperoning policies. Act as a role model in good practice relating to equality and diversity. Accept the rights of individuals to choose their care providers, participate in care and refuse care. Assist patients from marginalised groups to access quality care

Please refer the Job description for details