Respiratory Nurse Specialist

Job overview

An excellent opportunity has arisen for a Respiratory Nurse Specialist to work within our team. We are looking for an experienced, enthusiastic nurse with a passion for caring for those with respiratory illness. The service provides inpatient cover to Aintree Hospital. We perform inpatient COPD and Asthma reviews, home oxygen assessments and nebuliser trials. We have nurse led outpatient clinics for COPD, Asthma, Bronchiectasis and Oxygen. We are commissioned to look after home oxygen patients living in Sefton, and Liverpool – and perform home visits on these patients too. We work closely with medical and therapy teams both in hospital, and in primary care. We have close links with the Community Respiratory Team, ILD team, and other local Oxygen teams too. A high level of clinical decision-making is required for this post, the post holder should expect to work independently; therefore sound theoretical and practical knowledge in Respiratory is required. Evidence of post registration training and a willingness to learn and develop clinical skills is essential. The candidate should have at least 2 years’ respiratory experience. You will need excellent communication skills and will be expected to provide education and advice to patients, carers and health care professionals. A driving license and access to a car is also essential.

Main duties of the job

• Work as part of a team of RNS, to provide ward cover to the hospital: assessing inpatients diagnosed with a variety of respiratory conditions and advising & implementing management plans for these patients.
• Complete home oxygen assessments and review oxygen prescriptions of both inpatients and outpatients. Including home visits.
• Complete assessment and provide discharge bundles for patients admitted with exacerbations of their Airways disease.
• Run nurse led outpatient clinics - supported by B7 colleagues.
• Participate in clinical audit.
• Contribute to teaching and clinical supervision.
• Be involved in service development projects.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical.

• To perform comprehensive assessment of a patient’s needs (including clinical examination, and sampling arterial blood gases); then plan, implement and evaluate care delivery accordingly.
• Ensure effective lines of communication within the multidisciplinary team to achieve an optimal level of service to respiratory patients, their families and carers.
• Liaise effectively with community matrons, GP’s and other teams to enhance the respiratory patients care pathway.
• Supported by a band 7, have patients in nurse led clinics in Asthma, COPD, Bronchiectasis and Oxygen; providing expert advice, education and support to patients, their families and/or carers regarding their ongoing care and condition.

• Understands and recognise your own limitations and refers to a more experienced specialist/ clinical lead when required, including presenting patients at MDT.
• Care for patients from diagnosis through to end stage disease. Ability to display advanced communication skills to patients, their relatives and members of the public with empathy and reassurance.
• Promote better health expectations for patients with respiratory disease and encourage strategies for healthier lifestyles- using the ‘every contact counts’ approach.
• Request and interpret laboratory tests, respiratory function tests, sputum test etc. when assessing patients care needs.
• Perform advanced clinical skills in assessment &/or diagnosis &/or treatment.
• Collect, collate, evaluate and report information, maintaining accurate patient records.
• Involve patients and carers/relatives in the planning and delivery of care and development of services.
• Establish and maintain effective communication with patients and carers/relatives, and professionals across health and social services.

• Provide specialist, expert clinical knowledge to clinical colleagues, patients and carers/relatives.
• Contributes to the provision of specialist protocols and policies as required.

• Responsible for organising own workload within the requirements of the specialist team activities and work plan.
• With the wider team - evaluate service delivery, identify areas for improvement and initiate change.
• Monitor health, safety and security of self and others and promote best practice in Aintree Chest Centre.

Education and Development.

• Identify learning needs, plan, implement and evaluate programmes of education to meet identified need.

• Provides teaching in practice to other to other staff and students through clinical supervision/facilitation.
• Participate in the education of pre and post registered nurses, and curriculum development where appropriate.
• Ensure own compliance and compliance of others with regard to mandatory training requirements.

Clinical Governance.

• Participate in research & clinical audit , in order to improve effectiveness of patient care and service delivery.

• Participate in the development and implementation of policies, procedures and guidelines relevant to own area of work.
• Promote patient and public involvement activities in the specialist area, leading to service improvement.
• Promote people’s equality, diversity and rights.

Registered Nurses at Aintree have a responsibility to:

• Maintain active status on NMC register
• Act always in accordance with NMC Code of Conduct and guiding documents
• Adhere to Trust Policy and Procedure.
• Maintain up to date skills and knowledge and maintain awareness of professional issues.
• Maintain a professional portfolio.

* The successful candidate must have an active driving license and access to a car for home visits .