Senior Staff Nurse - Recovery/PACU, Band 6

Job overview

Senior Staff Nurse - Recovery/PACU, Band 6

The successful post holder would be required/expected to have the highest standards of clinical care. You must have the drive to be highly innovative, be able to prioritise your workload and must possess excellent communication skills as this post involves multiple liaisons with different departments and multi-disciplinary team. You must demonstrate a flexible approach taking charge of the unit yet have strong conviction to meet the set targets/demands of a busy unit.

You must be able to demonstrate strong leadership skills & are able to attend to any clinical emergency that may arise during the shift.

Main Theatres caters to a wide variety of surgical patients. It is further divided into 3 departments/theatre complexes within the hospital main site which all recovery nurses/practitioners are expected to rotate.

1)Main Theatres –comprising of 6 theatres that cover general/colorectal surgery, bariatric, orthopaedics and trauma, gynaecology, gender affirming surgery, urology, craniofacial, plastic surgery and a 24-hour surgical emergency service.

2) Paediatric Theatres- houses four (5) theatres dedicated to a myriad of paediatric surgical specialities like general, urology, orthopaedic, plastic, ENT & dental.

3) Burns Theatre – one dedicated theatre for all burns procedures and operation housed in the burns unit.

Main duties of the job

• The post holder will take an active role in rostering and rotation of staff in order to enhance their skills. The post holder is expected to participate in rotation to twilight/night duty as per requirement of the departmental service

• The post holder will support and deputise for the Recovery Co-ordinator in the management of the clinical area. This will involve dealing with complex situations and having to take appropriate action in emergency or unforeseen situations.
• The post holder will act as a clinical role model and leader for all members of staff.
• Provide specialist clinical advice to support and facilitate high quality, individualised care to patients/clients and relatives/carers without supervision in collaboration with the multi-disciplinary team.
• To be flexible in the approach to the clinical area and provide cover for any area specified within your level of competence. i.e. Nurse led discharge, Trust-wide resuscitation attendance, co-ordination of emergency/trauma lists or provide high-dependence care.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Responsibilities  1. To provide a high standard of evidence based care to a designated group of patients. 2. Act as a clinical role model in the delivery of a high standard post-operative nursing care within the designated area.  3. To be responsible for the management of an assigned group of patients.  4. To adhere to NMC/HCPC Code of Professional Conduct and standards of Registration at all times.  5. To maintain confidentiality at all times. ( Trust’s Data Protection and Confidentiality Policy)  6. To involve families and carers in the planning and provision of care where appropriate.  7. To communicate effectively with all members of the multi-disciplinary team to ensure the relevant information regarding the patient’s needs/condition are communicated to them, and that any instructions from them regarding the patient’s care/condition are acted upon.  8. To have regard and respect for patient’s cultural, religious beliefs, privacy, dignity, gender and sexuality (see Trust’s Policy on Equality and Diversity)  9. To rotate in all Recovery area as required (i.e. Adult/Main Theatre, Paediatric, Burns and Treatment Centre)  10. To report any/all clinical incidents using the DATIX online reporting system and participate in the investigation of incidents as required

• To maintain standards of documentation including paper and computer records such as CERNER and in accordance with the Trust and NMC Standard for Records and Record Keeping.  12. To ensure clear and accurate written and verbal information is given at all times, including patient handovers.  13. To complete all required trainings essential for the role which includes ILS, PILS, IV Drug and Administration Training, Pain Management and Mandatory Training/E-learning modules within the anniversary of start date.  14. Responsible for the management, security, control, administration and record keeping of drugs as prescribed adhering to local Trust Policy (see Trust Medicine’s Policy) and national guidelines.  15. Responsible for the correct administration of prescribed medication including transfusion of blood and blood products.  16. Be responsible for assessing and recognising emergencies in the speciality.  17. Ensure that patients’ receive high quality of clinical care and a good patient experience having regard for their customs, religious beliefs and doctrines.  18. To provide leadership, support and guidance to staff in monitoring the planning delivery and evaluation of individualised care.  19. Ensure safe and effective care for complex patients requiring advance clinical skills and responsible for carrying out specialist nursing procedures to area.  20. Ensure that sensitive patient records are stored appropriately.  21. Ensure that staff members strictly adhere to the infection control policies and procedures of the Trust to minimise the risk of cross infection.  22. To be an effective communicator within the peri-operative team.  23. To involve families and carers in the planning and provision of care where appropriate.

Management Responsibilities  1. To support the Charge Nurse/ODP and senior staff to manage human, material and financial resources to support the delivery of high quality patient care.  2. To manage/lead the daily operational needs of the department and the clinical care of all the patients looked after in the units that have been allocated to the post holder.  3. To ensure the appropriate level of clinical and non-clinical skills to ensure a high and safe standard of care  4. To ensure an efficient and safe turn-around time of patient care from theatre to recovery and recovery to wards.  5. To be actively participating in the daily elective surgery bed meetings.  6. To maintain team records as delegated by the charge nurse.  7. To participate in the creation and management of staff rostering using HealthRoster.  8. To support the staff recruitment and selection process.  9. To ensure that all essential consumables and equipment are available and in good working order.  10. To participate in service development projects and assist with the setting and implementation of priorities and objectives.  11. In conjunction with colleagues, to maintain effective partnership working with the relevant leads to ensure patient responsive practice and service improvement.  12. To ensure staff have appropriate orientation and induction to the Trust and clinical area and that staff have an identified mentor.  13. To actively participate in ensuring that staff have an annual appraisal and Personal Development Plan and support them to obtain their objectives.  14. To maintain effective communication between all groups of staff both within and external to the department, including participating in meetings  15. To work collaboratively with staff from all disciplines to ensure the seamless delivery of care including pre-assessment, scheduling, ward staff, perioperative staff, patients and their carers and all other healthcare professional involved in the pathway of care.  16. To act on concerns raised by patients and staff and participate in the management of complaints

• To participate in the development of local standards and policies, through leading policy subgroups within the department.  18. To assist/deputise in the absence of the Charge Nurse in the management of the Recovery team  including sickness monitoring absence, participating in performance and conduct investigations,  appraisals and providing advice on untoward incident reporting problems.

Quality Improvement/ Clinical Governance  1. To participate in auditing areas of clinical practice to improve the quality of service  2. To participate in activities such as benchmarking and audit to ensure that the service and patient care are monitored, evaluated and improvements made.  3. To take immediate local action to mitigate patient or user dissatisfaction/complaint.  4. To manage clinical risk and contribute to the management of health and safety issues.  5. To assist with or participate in departmental and Trust initiatives or audits, related to Service Improvement / Clinical Governance  6. To assist in the implementation of statutory guidelines e.g. NICE guidelines, National Service Frameworks  7. To follow the principles within the Clinical Governance and Research Governance Framework using clinical risk team as a resource  8. To practice in accordance with the Trust’s Nursing Vision and Strategy

Professional Responsibilities  1. To act within the NMC/HPC Code of Conduct and NMC guidelines.  2. To ensure nurses & ODPs act within their professional code of conduct.  3. To critically reflect on own performance for example through clinical supervision.  4. To recognise opportunities for own professional development and that of others.  5. To ensure staff are developed through involvement in training and education  6. To adhere to and operate within hospital policies and procedures.  7. To ensure that working conditions are safe, in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act and Infection Control Policy.  8. To support the development of the service in relation to the Trust’s corporate plan, Nursing Vision and Strategy and local objectives.

Education and Development

• Support the maintenance of staff records
• Identify and establish individual training plans and learning goals for each assigned nursing staff and students
• Create a learning environment and facilitate others to develop
• Support learners in the clinical environment including pre-registration students in meeting their learning objectives.
• Act as a mentor/assessor to students and junior members of staff to provide education, advice and support.
• Ensure timely completion of junior staff member’s clinical competency requirements in Recovery.
• Responsible in maintaining and updating own clinical knowledge and skills thus actively contributing to the development of perioperative practices.
• Delivery of orientation and induction to new and less experienced members of staff.
• Be aware of the local equipment training programme and mandatory training requirements whilst monitoring staff compliance and up to date training records

PLEASE SEE JD/PS FOR FULL DUTIES OF THE THE POST