Candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner (cANP) (Dementia care)
Job Specification & Terms and Conditions
Job Title and Grade / Candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner (Dementia Care) (cANP)(Grade Code 2272)
Campaign Reference / NRS02982
Closing Date / Thursday, 3rd December 2015 @ 12 Noon
Proposed Interview Date(s) / Early January 2016
Taking up Appointment / A start date will be indicated at Job Offer stage
Duration of Post / This is a Candidate ANP (Dementia Care) position and the successful applicant is expected to pursue and obtain registration as an RANP (Dementia Care) within a 12 month period of appointment. Non-registration as an RANP (Dementia Care) may lead to redeployment within the organisation.
Location of Post / A panel may be created for St Patricks Hospital, Cashel, Co Tipperary from which all current and future, permanent and specified purpose vacancies of full or part time duration may be filled.
Informal Enquiries;
Contact Name: Mary Prendergast, DON or Joan Brosnan, A/DON
Email : ;
Tel: 062-61100
Details of Service / St. Patrick’s Hospital Cashel is a public HSE Care of the older person facility which provides the following services and has capacity for:
· 106 long stay beds
· 18 Respite beds
· 21 Rehab Beds
Our purpose is to serve the older person population of South Tipperary. We provide a best practice; quality assured residential service to those elderly people 65 years and over who are entrusted into our care. In special circumstances our Rehabilitation Centre may accommodate patients under the age of 65 years.
We provide a broad range of care needs for older people including patients suffering from dementia. We can accommodate 106 residential, 18 respite, and 21 rehabilitation patients with a ratio of 50:50 male and female patients.
The Therapeutic Day Hospital operates independently where both residential care patients and persons from the local community may access the services available. The Therapeutic Day Hospital only offers access to older persons requiring care in the local community.
The hospital provides a Memory Assessment Service which is led by the ANP with Consultants in Gerontology and Psychiatry of Old Age in conjunction with full multidisciplinary teams. The Dementia Care Model is established and structured on best practice and is nationally acclaimed.
Reporting Relationships / Reporting to the Director of Nursing or her deputy.
Working in collaboration with the Consultants in Gerontology and Medical Officer on site.
Purpose of the Post / The clinical site for the ANP Dementia Care has already been prepared and successfully accredited by the Nursing Midwifery Board of Ireland.
The main purpose of the Candidate ANP Dementia Care post is for the individual to work towards meeting and achieving successfully the core concepts of the role as detailed within the job specification for this accredited post. This will include the cANP developing and submitting their personal ANP portfolio and all other necessary documentation to NMBI in order to register as an RANP Dementia Care within the agreed time frame of one year.
Concurrently, the individual will continue to develop their clinical skills, competencies and knowledge required in order to meet the criteria to be registered as an RANP with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI).
The overall purpose of the Candidate ANP post is to provide safe, timely, evidenced based nurse-led care to patients at an advanced nursing level. This involves undertaking and documenting a complete episode of patient care (assess, diagnose, plan, treat and discharge patients) according to collaboratively agreed protocols and scope of practice in the clinical setting; demonstrating advanced clinical and theoretical knowledge, critical thinking and decision making skills.
To support a safe environment for patients by increasing the use of evidence based clinical guidelines, address patient expectations and promote wellness and evaluate care given.
To provide professional and clinical leadership in order to develop nursing practice and health policy at local, regional and national level
To lead, conduct, disseminate and publish nursing research to shape and advance nursing practice, education and health care policy at local, national and international levels
Principle Duties and Responsibilities / Autonomy in Clinical Practice
The Candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner (Dementia Care )will be required to:
· Identify through collaboration with key stakeholders the responsibilities of the agreed patient caseload establishing clinical supervision requirements and processes to support cANP to prepare for registration.
· Be aware of the clinical governance structures within and outside the
organisation that support advanced nursing practice including indemnity.
· Develop /review collaboratively agreed clinical decision making frameworks/ protocols /referral pathways to support nurse led delivery of care to the defined patient caseload for the entire episode of care.
· Develop the core clinical skills and competencies to become an autonomous practitioner skilled in the delivery of quality direct care to patients through consultant supervision and record these in his/her portfolio.
· Develop the specialist competencies relevant to the defined scope of practice and caseload. Through consultant supervision and record these in his/her portfolio.
· Develop a professional portfolio which meets the standard expected for registration as an RANP for submission to the NMBI.
· Develop expert knowledge and skills in all aspects of patient assessment, risk stratification and management of the patient cohort for whom the post has being accredited.
· Develop practical and theoretical knowledge and critical thinking to a level that will be seen as exemplary amongst peers and will be recognised and acknowledged as an authority in the specialist area of nursing.
· Develop close links with all members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure that a safe quality driven evidence based service is being delivered to all patients within their caseload.
· Develop excellent skills in undertaking and documenting a complete episode of patient care in an accurate, timely and complete manner (assess, diagnose, treat and discharge).
· Develop the ability to accept accountability and responsibility for clinical decision making at advanced practice level by managing a caseload under clinical supervision.
· Develop expert clinical skills in the diagnosis and treatment of patient care within a collaboratively agreed scope of practice framework alongside other healthcare professionals.
· Undertake supervised clinical practice at an advanced level in the specialist area of practice.
· Develop the ability to use professional judgement, clinical reasoning and decision making processes to refer patients to other health care professionals as described in the site preparation documentation.
· Participate in the future development of integrated care pathways where appropriate, utilising evidence-based practice guidelines.
· Achieve clinical competence through engagement in education, clinical supervision and peer review on an ongoing basis.
Expert Practitioner
The Candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner Dementia Care will develop the ability to:
· Articulate and rationalise the concept of advanced nursing/midwifery practice within the framework of relevant laws, rules and guidelines that govern nursing/midwifery practice including, but not exclusively, The Scope of Nursing and Midwifery Practice Framework (An Bord Altranais, 2000), The Code of Professional Conduct (An Bord Altranais, 2000) Guidelines for Midwives (An Bord Altranais 2000), The Nurses Act (Government of Ireland 2011).
· Be identified in the clinical setting as an autonomous practitioner and role model demonstrating an expert level of professional competency in the area of dementia care nursing.
· Develop a means of improving practice through exploring practice issues with team members, development of practice protocols and research and audit initiatives.
· Develop skills in order to function in a variety of roles including clinical and consultative, clinical practice development, teacher, coach, manager and researcher.
· Demonstrate advanced practical and theoretical knowledge and critical thinking and decision making skills to manage a patient caseload including comprehensive patient assessments which will involve:
o A focussed history of presenting illness
o Additional health history and risk stratification according to the specialist field
o Advanced physical examination
o Ordering, undertaking and interpreting tests as per agreed scope of practice
· Planning and managing care with a holistic focus, encouraging the family to be involved in care.
· Identify health promotion priorities and opportunities in the area of clinical practice.
· Deliver person centred care and advocate a health promotion and quality of life ethos.
· Evaluate care given through engagement surveys, major incident follow up, audits of compliance with relevant policies, procedures protocols and guidelines.
· Implement health promotion strategies for patients in accordance with the public health agenda.
· Implement patient safety strategies in line with organisation and national safety agenda.
· To assess service demand and capacity and plan accordingly.
Professional and Clinical Leadership
The Candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner Dementia Care will be required to develop the ability to:
· Articulate and communicate a vision of nursing practice for the specialist area that can be developed beyond the current scope of practice and demonstrate a commitment to the development of such areas.
· Integrate patients assessment, diagnosis, plan of care treatment and discharge with the organisation’s nursing /midwifery philosophy and model.
· Develop good communication skills, verbal , written and listening
· Develop appropriate nursing documentation to meet the needs of the new service with input from the multidisciplinary team.
· Maintain confidentiality of patient records
· Manage the integration of the RANP role into the multidisciplinary team and the effect of the new role on the work of other healthcare professionals.
· Promote an understanding of the role of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner and increase the awareness of nurses/midwives and other grades of the scope of practice of the ANP.
· Provide professional leadership, strategic direction, expert advice and support to the clinical teams.
· Identify areas of dementia care nursing care management that require development and demonstrate a commitment to such development.
· Develop the nurse led service in line with changing service and healthcare needs.
· Ensure that any expansion of services is justified through exploration of service need, patient demand and resource allocation.
· Contribute to professional development in nursing/midwifery and health policy development at local, regional and national level.
· Develop the skills to actively engage in leading and managing change in the delivery of health care services according to patient need and service demand.
· Develop skills to participate in service planning and budgeting
· Develop skills to procure and effectively manage resources required for service provision and development.
· Develop skills to provide leadership in clinical practice and to act as a role model for advanced nursing practice for all nursing staff and the multidisciplinary team.
· Demonstrate the ability to act as a mentor and preceptor in order to facilitate the education and professional development of other nursing grades and healthcare professionals
· Participate in facilitating learning and education of nurses (both undergraduate and post-graduate levels) and other health professionals in the clinical area. Provide teaching in the classroom and in the clinical area as well as presenting at conferences, seminars and workshops to enhance the advanced nursing role.
· Deliver and/or participate in in-service training, orientation and nurse training programmes as required.
· Share a vision of clinical practice with key stakeholders, communication with, valuing and enabling their contribution to care.
· Engage in a forum which evaluates quality and standards in clinical practice-develop the ability to lead in the promotion of clinical standards.
· Assess and evaluate parents of patients/clients’ experience /satisfaction with the service; analyse and utilise the findings to improve patient safety and quality of care.
· Contribute to the service plan by producing an annual working report, outlining the level of current service provided, the achievements and challenges of the service and a future plan for the service.
· Contribute to the professional body of patient nursing knowledge and practice nationally and internationally by developing writing, publishing and presentation skills.
· Recognise limitations in scope of practice and address theoretical and practice gaps through continuing education, consultation with colleagues and consultant.
· Work to achieve excellence through continuously improving the standard and quality and safety of nursing care.
· Help to lead quality and safety improvement, risk management and standard setting projects in conjunction with clinical governance.
· Ensure that effective safety procedures are in place to comply with Health & Safety Guidelines and Welfare at Work Act.
Researcher
The Candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner (Dementia Care) will develop the following skills in order to:
· Identify research priorities specific to clinical practice and the scope of practice/caseload
· Participate in and collaborate with the multidisciplinary team in undertaking research
· Develop skills to lead and engage in the review of accidents, incidents and near misses in specialist area. Undertake analysis as appropriate and furnish reports on same.
· Lead, conduct, disseminate and publish nursing research to shape and advance nursing practice, education and policy and the wider health agenda.
· Identify, critically analyse disseminate nursing and other evidence into clinical practice.
· Promote an ethos so evidenced based practice through accessing and disseminating current speciality specific and profession specific publications.
· Initiate, participate in and evaluate audit of the client caseload and other relevant areas.
· Utilise the outcome of audit to improve service provision or initiate a change in practice.
· Initiate and foster links with third level education institutions and other organisations in relation to research.
· Contribute to service planning and budgetary processes through use of data and specialist knowledge.
· Develop data collecting systems that will inform and evaluate the service provided by the Advanced Nurse Practitioner (Dementia Care).
The above Job Description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the Candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post, which may be assigned to him/her from time to time, which contribute to the development of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner post while in office.
Eligibility Criteria
Qualifications and / or experience / Each candidate must, at the latest date for receipt of completed applications for the post: