Practice Nurse

Job responsibilities

Job summary

To provide and maintain a high standard of nursing care for patients, as well as providing nursing assistance to the doctors and other members of the primary healthcare team. The duties will include all tasks normally undertaken by an experienced RGN and any additional roles agreed between the nurse and the doctors as appropriate, having regard to current training.

Job responsibilities

Professional

• Offer a holistic approach to travel health by providing comprehensive advice to patients prior to travel including; vaccinations and medicines, safe sex, food hygiene, sun protection
• Offer advice about childhood and adult vaccinations and ensure vaccines are administered under patient group directions
• Running well person clinics and health promotion programmes, facilitating change by providing holistic assessment and lifestyle advice on diet, smoking, alcohol intake and exercise
• Assessing problems presented opportunistically by patients, dealing with minor illness.
• Able to document Consultations according to NMC guidelines
• Ensures awareness of statutory and local clinical protection procedures, including systems of referral for safeguarding.
• Perform a holistic assessment of patients attending for cervical cytology smear tests.
• Perform venepuncture according to local guidelines
• Provide a holistic approach to wound management and implement wound care in line with current evidence based guidelines
• Suture removal
• Take ECGs
• Able to recognize and manage anaphylaxis according to current UK guidelines
• Able to perform Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation according to current UK guidelines
• Assist in the provision of minor surgery
• Ability to obtain and document informed consent (either verbal or written)
• Ensure infection control guidelines are maintained
• Ability to monitor and manage maintenance of stock and equipment to include refrigeration, sterilizer and emergency equipment
• Confidentially of information gained at work must be preserved at all times

Managerial

• Contribute to the assessment of service needs
• Assist patients to identify their health needs
• Contribute a nursing perspective to the practice development plan
• Manage and organise individual patient consultations
• Aware of identification and reporting procedures related to professional standards
• To attend staff meetings
• Ensure effective relationships and communications with the PHCT and other agencies
• Support the Practice clinical governance agenda
• Identify changes to clinical practice that are required to implement evidence-based guidelines

Educational

• Identify personal development and training needs in conjunction with the manager
• Participate in clinical supervision
• Support others with their training and development needs
• To participate in continuing education and maintain a contemporary level of professional knowledge and skills

Personnel

• Take reasonable care of his/her own safety and that of other persons who may be affected by his/her act or omission
• Co-operation with the practice to ensure all members of the team adheres to statutory regulations/policies and codes of practice and departments safety rules
• Offer innovative ways of working and opportunities to facilitate learning
• Facilitates a learning environment within the team
• Maintains a caring environment through the support of colleagues

Confidentiality

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
• In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data

Health & Safety

The post-holder will implement and lead on a full range of promotions. They will manage their own and others health and safety and infection control as defined in the practice Health & Safety policy, the practice Health & Safety manual, the practice Infection Control policy and other published procedures. This will include (but will not be limited to):

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
• Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness and regulatory / contractual / professional requirements, and good practice guidelines
• Responsible for the correct and safe management of the specimens process including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct and clean containers, storage and transport arrangements
• Management and maintenance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the practice including provision, ordering, availability and ongoing correct usage by staff
• Responsible for hand hygiene across the practice
• Ownership of infection control and clinically based patient care protocols, and implementation of those protocols across the practice
• Active observation of current working practices across the practice in relation to infection control, cleanliness and related activities, ensuring that procedures are followed and weaknesses / training needs are identified, escalating issues as appropriate
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks across clinical and patient process
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills, and initiate and manage the training of others across the full range of infection control and patient processes
• Monitoring practice facilities and equipment in relation to infection control, ensuring that provision of hand cleansing facilities, wipes etc are sufficient to ensure a good clinical working environment. Lack of facilities to be escalated as appropriate.
• Safe management of sharps procedures including training, use, storage and disposal
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile, and safe way, free from hazards. Initiation of remedial / corrective action where needed or escalation to responsible management
• Actively identifying, reporting, and correction of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
• Keeping own work areas and ...