PCN Advanced Nurse Practitioner

The Advanced Clinical Practitioner is an experienced clinician (nurse, paramedic, pharmacist) who has undertaken (or is willing to work towards) Masters level education, covering the four pillars of advanced practice (clinical practice, leadership and education, research, education). The autonomous practitioner must also be an independent prescriber. The Advanced Clinical Practitioner will undertake clinical assessment including history taking and physical examination, form a diagnosis and provide a treatment plan, which may include prescribing. The Advanced Clinical Practitioner will demonstrate safe, clinical decision making and expert care. The Advanced Clinical Practitioner will be expected to treat all ages from children to the elderly, with undifferentiated presenting complaints, including mental health, paediatric illness and palliative care. Top up training can be provided in any areas of identified development. The Advanced Clinical Practitioner will work collaboratively with all members of the team. This may include telephone consultations, face to face consultations, or mobile/home visits. At times you may be operating as a single clinician. Considering all four pillars of advanced practice, you are expected to utilise your clinical leadership skills and supporting educational development of junior staff. Primary Responsibilities - Will work autonomously within a health care team consisting of Team Leaders, Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Duty Doctors, Drivers, Call Handlers and Receptionists. - The composition of this team will vary from shift to shift and Advanced Clinical Practitioners must be able to communicate effectively and professionally with all staff members. - As part of a national service, you will deal with calls of a very diverse nature covering all clinical aspects and issues, from an infinite variety of callers, whose cultural, social and emotional diversities require to be acknowledged and taken into consideration during the consultation. - You will be required to use a multi skilled approach. Whilst using the available technology, the ACP will use effective listening and communication skills in order to make clinical decisions, create records and refer to clinical reference literature during the consultation period. - Must be able to retrieve and use information regarding healthcare provision in the patients locality, allowing appropriate care to be accessed where necessary. Clinical - Assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate treatment/interventions and care for patients presenting with an undifferentiated diagnosis - Diagnose and manage both acute and chronic conditions, integrating both drug- and non-drug-based treatment methods into a management plan - Prescribe and review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, appropriate to patient needs and in accordance with evidence-based practice and national and practice protocols, and within scope of practice - Work with patients in order to support compliance with and adherence to prescribed treatments - Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side-effects and interactions - Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care - Assess, identify and refer patients presenting with mental health needs in accordance with the NSF for Mental Health - To provide face-to-face and telephone clinical assessment/treatment and management plan to patients. - Help in the development and evaluation of clinical guidelines, and competency tools to support practitioners in the expansion of their roles in the delivery of optimal care. - Undertake consultations with patients taking a comprehensive patient history, carry out physical examination and use your expert knowledge and clinical judgement to identify the potential diagnosis - Refer patients for investigations when necessary/appropriate - Make a final diagnosis, decide on and carry out treatment, including the prescribing of medicine or referring to primary or secondary care specialist services within local agreed pathways and protocols as appropriate - Ensure that all treatments and care provided are based on best practice/evidence-based care - Asses and evaluate, with the patient, the effectiveness of the treatment and care provided and make changes as needed - Use independent prescribing skills for benefits of patient care - Provide support/leadership/training/education - Identify and take appropriate actions to address risk to the patient, this will include: - Identification of emergency care needs requiring despatch of a 999 ambulance - Safeguarding children and protection of vulnerable adult issues which require referral on to other agencies in line with local policies - Work independently and at the same time contribute to the work of the whole team to ensure the delivery of a consistently high level of service, this will include; - Taking responsibility and being accountable for managing own workload, risk assessment and management, acting within professional codes and appropriately to the clinical team leader for advice and support. - Acting as a clinical resource for non-clinical staff who may require advice and support Communication - Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating - Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication. - To be aware of responsibilities under the Data Protection Act. - Attend regular team meetings. - Provide a professional, courteous and efficient service consistent with organisational standards for patients seeking assistance from the service, maintaining a professional and reassuring manner at all times - Utilise advanced listening, probing and facilitative skills across a diverse range of cases, some of which may be highly challenging due to emotive circumstances, communication difficulties and patient anxiety - Utilise complex communication skills to negotiate and provide support to patients who may be non-compliant with the recommended outcomes - Utilise interpreter services, communication aids and other resources, to address barriers to communication and understanding - Effectively use a range of communication methods (e.g. telephone, email, fax, letter and report writing) to facilitate communication at all levels within and external to the organisation Audit - For Clinical Governance and Training purposes, regular monitoring is a requirement of this job. #Education, Training and Development - Contribute to the achievement of service standards and performance requirements by participating in regular quality monitoring and individual performance reviews - Attend and contribute to meetings, workshops and other groups in order to support the on-going development of the service - Participate in audit, customer satisfaction programmes, research and other quality improvement activities - Participate in the investigation of incidents, complaints and other issues as required - Manage and maintain clinical records as required - Maintain active NMC registration To carry out other duties commensurate with the grade as directed Secondary Responsibilites: - Work as part of the team to ensure a positive and productive team environment is developed and maintained at all times - Attend at all necessary internal and external meetings as required - Produce written and verbal reports with appropriate data to support such meetings. - To attend all Mandatory training for the role as identified by the organisation. - To carry out the role in line with operating policies and procedures. - To report incidents and complete documentation as required. - To support colleagues in ensuring operational and management cover is available across all work streams - To maintain patient/staff confidentiality at all times. - To undertake any other duties, as agreed, to meet the needs of the organization