TITLE of POST:Community Nurse

JOB DESCRIPTION

TITLE OF POST:Community Nurse

ACCOUNTABLE TO:Community Team Manager

HOURS OF WORK:40 hours per week.

The actual hours of work will require the flexibility to meet the workload demand, and the needs of the children/parents and will include some evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

JOB PURPOSE:

To support flexible and responsive home based care for children and young people with complex healthcare needs who have a life shortening condition. This includes short break respite care and urgent care including end of life support.
To act as a key worker supporting young people and their families through the process of transition from Children’s Hospice provision (child care) to young adult provision (adult orientated holistic care).
To support other providers, liaising, removing barriers and advocating for the young person whilst problem solving to ensure a smooth transition.
To provide advice and support to other health care professionals and agencies in terms of training packages which will facilitate the safe transition of a young person.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Clinical Care

To utilise clinical expertise, knowledge and skills in order to ensure the delivery of highly skilled nursing interventions, advice and support to children and young people with life limiting and or technology dependant conditions in the home and in other community settings.
To assess, plan,implement and evaluate agreed plans of care for children and young people with complex health needs / life shortening conditions who are in receipt of Bluebell Wood Services.
To act as a key worker and provide case management and transition support for young adults.
To support end of life care alongside other members of the nursing and medical team at Bluebell Wood and elsewhere.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

To provide initial assessment, on-going care planning intervention, evaluation and acting upon findings ensuring safe and quality care.
To follow evidence based clinical guidelines or care utilising up to date research.

Autonomous Working

To provide specialist nursing support to a high quality.
To deliver care for children and young adults requiring short breaks at home or other community setting.
To act as a key worker delivering transition support for young adults in our care.

Emotional Effort

Provide support to families displaying high levels of stress in highly emotional circumstances.
To help provide bereavement support to families following the death of a child or young person.
To provide care to children and young people who may who display challenging behaviour.
To help provide out of hours specialist nursing advice, care and support to children young people and families as part of a 24/7 care.

Communication and Relationship Skills

To communicate with families and children about actual or suspected child abuse whilst still maintaining a working relationship.
To communicate with children, parent and carers, utilising empathetic or reassurance skills during episodes of crisis, acute illness or deterioration.
To communicate persuasively utilising developed negotiation skills with children, their families and others, where they may be barriers to understanding and concordance.
To motivate and support junior members of the team.
To liaise with others acting as an advocate for children, young people and their families to ensure quality of care and services.
To work in collaboration with other professional colleagues from both health and other agencies utilising developed negotiation and communication skills.

Mental Effort

To work unsupervised with a high degree of autonomy, meeting the needs of the services. This requires a high level of flexibility and ability to prioritise demands and caseload manage effectively.
Concentration at a high level for extended periods on a daily basis.

Planning and Organisation Skills

To be able to prioritise and change plans to facilitate crisis intervention or changes on a daily basis.

Planning for Human Resources - Managerial

To support junior members of the team on a day-to-day basis.

Responsibilities for Human Resources – Education & Training

To deliver training and education to support transition success and achievement.
To act as a mentor/assessor for students, junior nursing and care staff undertaking formal nursing courses.
To continue the development of own specialist expertise underpinning the theoretical and professional knowledge.

Freedom to Act

To independently plan, implement and evaluate care for children with life shortening conditions and end of life needs in a variety of settings following assessment.
Accountable for own actions, working independently at times and not directly supervised.
To identify the transition needs of young adults and their individual bespoke support needs going forward through effective communication and assessment.

Physical Effort

To move and correctly use equipment for use in the hospice, home and other settings e.g. feed pumps, pulse oximeters and oxygen.

To regularly move and manoeuvre children and young people up to 25 years of age to facilitate care/treatment on a daily basis, many of who have severe disabilities and are unable to co-operate or assist.

Research Responsibilities

Utilise research to support evidence based nursing practice.
Disseminate current research literature and apply to clinical practice as appropriate.
Participate in or conduct research, presenting and/or publishing findings.

Continuing Professional Development

Undertake regular supervision, both clinical and safeguarding.
Actively participate in the 360 appraisal process identifying training and development needs.
Maintain a current and on-going professional portfolio of development.
To continue on-going development of practice by actively participating in acquisition of appropriate clinical skills and theoretical knowledge.

Responsibility for Information Resources

To record personally generated clinical observations, updating patient records, maintaining a comprehensive database for on-going monitoring and evaluation.

Responsibilities for Financial and Physical Resources

To be responsible for the safe use of expensive equipment i.e. ventilator, IV pumps and pulse oximeters.

Professional Responsibilities

To function as an effective member of the team using analytical and judgemental skills to assess complex situations and to act appropriately.
To adhere to the NMC standards and professional requirement to maintain registration.
Be a role model for others.
Maintain high professional and personal standards.
To treat children, young people and families as individuals and with respect and dignity.
Report sickness, absence and adverse incidents to the line manager.

Policy and Service Development

To contribute to the development of policies and procedures and to propose policy or service changes and recommendations to decision makers as needed.

Physical Skills

To regularly be required to provide highly skilled technical nursing interventions showing a high degree of hand-eye co-ordination for children who may be unable to co-operate due to condition, disability, age or language, including some children and young people with challenging behaviour. These difficulties will require manipulation and control skills to ensure safety and success.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

To work in patients’ homes with families under increased stress.
Lone working, whilst being aware of personal safety issues.
To work closely with staff from other agencies, often working in buildings managed by other agencies requiring interpersonal and diplomacy skills.
To have knowledge of de-escalation techniques to be utilised where situations of anger and aggression are faced.
To ensure risk management by making risk assessments as needed and acting upon findings appropriately. Communication of significant findings to Manager and others.
To minimise risk to self, others and environment during frequent exposure to body fluids.
Occasional VDU usage for communication and record keeping.

GENERAL:

All Bluebell Wood employees are required to:

Abide by the Health & Safety at Work Act
Adhere to policy and procedures around safeguarding children and young adults
Respect confidentiality applying to all Hospice areas
Work within Hospice policies and procedures
Comply with the Hospice no smoking policy
Participate in and contribute to team meetings
Co-operate and liaise with colleagues
Behave in a professional manner at all times, reflecting and maintaining the values and ethos of Bluebell Wood

All Bluebell Wood employees are expected to:

Demonstrate a commitment to their own development, to take advantage of education and training opportunities and develop their own competence.
Support and encourage harmonious internal and external working relationships.
Make a positive contribution to fundraising and raising the profile of the Hospice.

This Job Description is not exhaustive. It will be subject to periodic review and may be amended following discussion between the post-holder and employer.

Date of issue: April 2015

Review date: April 2016