Sister / Charge Nurse - Emergency Department

at  North Bristol NHS Trust

Patient care: Take personal responsibility for the nursing care of patients in the clinical setting. Ensure that care needs are assessed and programmes of care are developed, implemented and evaluated and documented contemporaneously for a caseload of patients in a clinical area. Ensure changes, advice, day-to-day activity and tests are documented contemporaneously, giving a clear profile of care received during a patients admission/visit to the care setting. Plan, allocate, supervise and evaluate working practices of the team on a day-to-day basis.
Provide professional advice and support to team members so that they are able to assume responsibility to carry out delegated duties. Facilitate and maintain clinical competence/skills of self and others in day-to-day working practices. Assist the senior nurses to ensure clinical competence/skills of members of the nursing team meet the requirements of Trust Policies and Procedures, and are measurable against benchmarking standards. Undertake additional nursing tasks, e.g.
IV drugs, cannulation, male catheterisation defibrillation, etc., relevant to clinical area. Facilitate the discharge planning process, evaluate as necessary according to patients and families changing needs. Ensure all members of the multi-disciplinary team are aware as changes occur. Compliance with all infection control policies and procedures will form an integral part of the practice of all staff involved in direct patient care.
The staff member will be responsible for locating the infection control manual in the clinical areas and on the intranet. Staff must keep themselves up to date with new polices distributed with subsequent implementation in practice. Clinical staff will seek support and advice from infection control in all instances where cross infection is likely to have occurred or when managing situation involving patients with infections where guidance provided in the policies is not applicable. All staff will contact occupational health if they are suffering from any form of infection which may put patents and other staff at risk Policy and Service Development: Contribute to the development of speciality specific clinical protocols and guidelines.
Supervisory and Management Responsibilities: Assist senior nurses and support cascade of information to ward team in a timely manner. Regularly takes charge and leads a team of staff for a shift. Assist senior nurses in compliance with all Health and Safety requirements relating to the clinical area. Assist senior nurses in planning appropriate duty rosters against agreed skill mix levels.
Be responsible for the supervision and checking of specialist equipment on a shift-to-shift basis. Investigate clinical incidents/complaints, report and take any action required to the clinical Matron. Support senior nurses to performance manage within the Trust Policies and Guidelines, e.g. sickness monitoring, capability.
Complete staff records as requested, on behalf of the senior nurses. Act as Directorate/Service/Ward representative at meetings. Assist in the recruitment of staff to the team as required. Financial Responsibilities: Work collaboratively to ensure resources are managed effectively and appropriate action taken.
Be aware of the financial position of the department and discuss any areas of concern with the Senior Nurses or clinical Matron. Act as designated signatory to order resources and authorise financial payments, e.g. unsocial hours payments. Assist in the planning of appropriate duty rosters against agreed skill mix levels.
Work within Trust protocols for utilisation of temporary staffing as required on a daily basis. Education: In support of the senior nurses, ensure staff are given appropriate training and support to undertake their day-to-day duties safely and competently, in line with NMC and Trust requirements. Contribute to the facilitation of a suitable educational environment in which to support the development and learning of department team members including newly qualified nurses and students on placement. Act as mentor/assessor to students on placement.
Training and Development: Undertake staff appraisals as required. Undertake teaching sessions as required to undergraduate and post graduate staff within the multidisciplinary team. Undertake designated training role as required by the department. Research and Development: Ensure along with the senior nurses, that own and teams practice is evidence based and in line with National Service Frameworks and/or other given standards.
Participate and facilitate others in research and audit. Assist in implementing recommendations of audits or other related documents, e.g. surveys and complaints. At the request of the clinical Matron, act as a ward link nurse to directorate/Trust, ensuring feedback to team, enabling review of practice.
Freedom to Act: Work and undertake duties as delegated by the senior nurses. Work at all times within specialty, directorate and Trust Guidelines, procedures and policies. Supervise work carried out by other team members Communication and information: Maintain effective communication of patient information with the internal Trust and external members of the multidisciplinary team. Communicate effectively via verbal, written and electronic routes.
Maintain contemporaneous patient records. Communicate and record all information in accordance with Trust Policies and Data Protection Act. Please get in touch if you would like any further details or would like to come for an informal visit

Please refer the Job description for details