Junior Sister/Charge Nurse

Job overview

Are you passionate about Emergency Care? Do you want to work in a Major Trauma Centre nestled between Dartmoor National Park and the sea? If that's you, I'd love to hear from you!

We are looking for experienced ED nurses to join our Band 6 team at Derriford Hospital, UHP NHS Trust.

We are the Major Trauma Centre for the South West Peninsula. 130,000 patients come through our doors yearly, 25,000 of these are children & 700 are major trauma patients. The very distinctive Air Ambulance can be seen flying in & out of Derriford a few times a day, bringing people from all across the region to be treated.

***Preference will be given to internal Trust staff, as well as ‘Priority’ and 'At Risk' status including NHS At Risk staff throughout Devon who are able to display recent relevant experience as dictated by the Person Specification.***

Main duties of the job

• To work effectively as a member of the ED Senior Nursing Team, responding with vision and innovation to the demands upon emergency services.
• To provide clinical and managerial expertise in all aspects of emergency care, ensuring patients and their families/carers receive the highest possible standard of care.
• To be the Nurse in Charge of the Department, under guidance of the Band 7 on shift.
• To co-ordinate each area of the department including triage, minors, majors and resus, promoting safety and quality in all aspects of patient care.
• To assist and manage the flow of patients throughout the department.
• To have knowledge and understanding of government targets/ quality indicators and actively strive toward achieving them and disseminate this knowledge to junior staff.
• Responsible for ensuring a plan of nursing care is developed for individual patients for their time in the emergency department and continuity of care is maintained throughout the patient journey.
• Acts as patient advocate, when relevant, providing information and education on all their treatment options, to enable them to make an informed decision.
• Negotiate with medical team on their behalf to agree a pathway of care which is suitable for the patient, their family, their condition and prognosis.
• Work with and support junior staff on duty and as part of the management team including undertaking appraisals.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical practice

• Provides support for distressed patients/carers and bereaved                       relatives
• Formulates and organises individualised patient care               programmes in conjunction with medical/nursing team/allied  professionals.

• Provides specialised advice, both verbal and written to patients and their carers

• Responsible for accurate assessment of new patients in the clinical area, identifying their physiological, psychological, emotional, spiritual, and cultural needs in relation to their disease, injury, illness and proposed treatment.
• Ensures patients are treated according to their priority of need for care, according to the correct treatment protocol/guidelines and that the appropriate investigations and treatments are undertaken as required.
• Responsible for ensuring a plan of nursing care is developed for individual patients for their time in the emergency department and continuity of care is maintained throughout the patient journey.
• Acts as patient advocate, when relevant, providing information and education on all their treatment options, to enable them to make an informed decision.
• Negotiate with medical team on their behalf to agree a pathway of care which is suitable for the patient, their family, their condition, and prognosis.
• Communicates highly sensitive and emotive condition related information to patients and their relatives, e.g., terminal illness, sudden death.
• Independently changes management of nursing care.

For further details please see the attach JD & PS