DC Cardioversion Specialist Nurse within Arrhythmia Services
Use advanced communication skills to communicate sensitively with tact and diplomacy to promote informed choice and develop a therapeutic relationship with the patient. Communicate with patients, relatives, and staff in an empathetic way, both face to face or by telephone or video conferencing.
Communicate and work collaboratively with consultant cardiologists, physiologists, anaesthetists, operating department practitioners and the multi-disciplinary team, across the division and Trust acting as patient advocate and challenging where appropriate.
Contributes to creating an environment that is conducive to learning, by providing reading material and teaching sessions for a group of staff, or on a one to one basis and give support to staff undertaking new or advanced roles. Use the Trust computer system to update patient information and respond to emails on a daily basis.
Planning and Organisation Demonstrates ability to work as a lone worker and within a team and have the ability to concentrate for long periods and apply accuracy and attention to detail in adverse conditions. The post holder will need to balance clinical demands and fulfil the actions required to meet patients needs within the organisational constraints (i.e. understanding when other teams are available and their priorities when planning interventions) Plan and manage own workload using specialist understanding and analysis of clinical need, to prioritise response to referrals and urgent requests for advice.
Have excellent time management and organisational skills i.e. prioritise workload, focus on one task at a time, complete and document relevant information. Manage frequent interruptions and respond to these requests if clinically indicated. Ensuring good workflow for self and others.The need to understand other roles and be able to delegate to make effective and efficient use of the skills within the team. Reviews patient and staff education resources and participates in the development of new resources. Resilience - Be able to care for oneself, preserving integrity to cope with the emotional effort required for the post.
Ensure that the DC Cardioversion service adheres to the trust guidelines and policies at all times to assure safe practice. Hold or attend team/multidisciplinary meetings for staff to keep them informed of changes to policies/procedures, clinical care and keep up to date with changes within the organization.
Seeks feedback from patients and families to aid development of the service. Regular reflective practice on service and nurse competence/expertise. Plan and deliver educational sessions for the cardiology department and wider Trust staff. Analytics Analytical skills to interpret and deal with complex clinical information, this may include information gained form patient examination and care or interpretation of research data and clinical papers and professional debate.
To maintain a comprehensive electronic database and all necessary paper documentation in order to monitor the number of patients seen by the service and to be able to provide accurate and robust data. Ability to assess clinical situations and act promptly.
Accountability for own professional actions. Responsibility for Patient / Client Care, Treatment & Therapy Plans, implements, carries out and evaluates care given by self and other nursing staff to patients and their relatives. Manage caseload of patients including those attending follow up clinics and those undergoing specific procedures for example managing the wait list and arranging other appropriate tests such as Echocardiogram, blood test and imaging if clinically appropriate.
Maintain accurate clinical observations and records, interpret the significance of these and implement appropriate care. Be visible and accessible to patients, visitors, and users of the service, proactively promoting the role and responsibilities of the Cardioversion service.Make decisions with regard to the clinical intervention required, based on the analysis and interpretation of complex clinical facts (such as blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, oxygen saturations, and temperature) on a daily basis and in crisis situations.
Demonstrate advanced ECG interpretation skills and maintain competency with delivering safe defibrillation as per the DC Cardioversion operating protocol. Maintain own clinical expertise and competence within the specialty by working a minimum of 80% of the working week clinically as part of the team, undergoing training and updating by external or internal courses and by reading and keeping up to date with changes in practice.
Policy, Service, Research & Development Responsibility Lead and initiate service developments, with support of the Arrhythmia Nurses, planning, implementing, and evaluating effectiveness of changes. Take responsibility for ensuring, that the Trust policy for clinical Incident reporting is followed.
Support the manager in using learning from incidents positively to change and develop practice. Adhere to all Trust policies. Use local and national research, guidelines, and policies to establish a model of evidence-based patient-centred care.
Update and support the implementation of new policies/protocols and local clinical guidelines, providing appropriate training and implement them. In collaboration with the Arrhythmia Nurse team, contribute to and undertake service based audits using recognised tools such as Essence of Care benchmarking tool for health care professionals, develop action plans to implement the results of audit and discuss with the Arrhythmia Nurse team/Lead Consultant, the progress against these action plans.
Implement best practice in the management of the staff resource in accordance with Improving Working Lives, Agenda for Change and other legislation as required. Responsibility for Finance, Equipment & Other Resources Uses Trust resources with care, avoiding waste.The post holder does not hold a budget. Responsibility for Supervision, Leadership & Management To develop links with other departments and centres to encourage sharing of innovations and best practice. Benchmarking against new guidance to ensure consistent evidence-based care.
To work with the multidisciplinary team to develop policies and practices and to make changes as necessary arising from audits and complaints. To audit and evaluate the Cardioversion service in order to meet the needs of the patients. Involving patients as partners in care and routinely collecting feedback from patients families and visitors.
To manage conflict promptly and effectively, supporting and promoting effective working relationships at all levels. Demonstrates a commitment to research-based practice and clinical excellence and acts as a role model. To be open and supportive to change. Information Resources & Administrative Duties Provide statements in response to formal complaints or resolve with patients or relatives any verbal complaints or if necessary, pass on to the service manager/Matron/PALS services any that cannot be resolved.
As per the Trust Drug policy ensure that self and staff read and follow the safe ordering, storage, and administration of medicines. Act as a mentor to qualified staff and students. Supporting and encouraging other nurses and colleagues to be involved in professional presentation and debate.Actively manage the service wait list, workload and clinic schedule and liaise with the administration team. DC Cardioversion Nurse specific tasks Adhere to the DC Cardioversion service standard operating protocol (SOP) in order to appropriately triage patients based on clinical need, manage the wait list, deliver evidence based, patient centred care from pre-assessment, through to discharge and arrange appropriate follow up care based on individual clinical need.
Appropriate triage and management of the waiting list with clinical priorities identified and monitoring of unstable patients. Deliver safe, evidence-based defibrillation as per DC Cardioversion SOP. Hold or willing to gain Resus council Advanced Life Support qualification.
Hold or willing to work towards Physical assessment and Clinical reasoning qualification. Demonstrates ability to explain to a patient the purpose, benefits, and possible complications of the procedure to ensure informed consent, including medication information and compliance.
Participate independently in nurse led pre assessment clinics or collaboratively interpreting physical and verbal information from patients, interpreting this information to seek medical advice, discussing with the Arrhythmia Nurses or Cardiologists in assessing clinical decisions and plan of care.
Request ECGs, Echocardiogram, ambulatory monitoring, blood tests and chest x-rays based on protocols and discuss results in order to plan appropriate patient care. Plan the workload and prioritise according to clinical need. Prepare and present teaching sessions of relevant topics to cardiology staff.
To be the first point of access via the telephone advice line for Cardioversion patients and their families in order to identify concerns and provide ongoing care. This may include providing support, information, advice, and onward referral (signposting).
Communicate with primary care practitioners and hospital consultants on the telephone and face to face to discuss service and patient issues, making decisions following discussion. Deliver and promote a holistic care approach, to support and counsel patients through the whole service journey to provide safe, efficient patient centred care.