Staff Nurse - Child Health Wards

Job overview

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are looking to recruit qualified Band 5 Paediatric Staff Nurses for Paediatric Short Stay Unit, Toni & Guy Ward and  Children's Surgical Ward.

Paediatric Short Stay is a 6 bedded inpatient unit, caring for patients admitted from our paediatric emergency department. We care for children and young people up to the age of 16years who need admission for up to 48hours.

Toni & Guy Ward is a 15 bedded general paediatric inpatient ward, it also is a shared care centre for oncology patients and a tertiary centre for Cystic Fibrosis and Haemoglobinopathies.

Children's Surgical Ward is split into 2 wards. Princess Elizabeth ward is an 11 bedded general paediatric surgical ward and Lion ward is a 10 bedded Neurosurgical ward.

Main duties of the job

• Your main responsibility will be the clinical care of children and young people who are inpatients on Rays of Sunshine Ward.
• This will involve the development, nurturing and utilisation of excellent clinical skills and abilities, in the delivery of care to paediatric patients with liver and gastro conditions.
• This position will also give you the opportunity to work within an international, tertiary service that is fast-paced, challenging but ultimately very rewarding.
• You will need to thrive on working in a dynamic environment; willing to support and guide students; demonstrate self-motivation and work well in a team.
• You should demonstrate a commitment to your own professional practice, as well as delivering high quality holistic care, with an emphasis on working in partnership with the children and their families.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Practice:

• To deliver a high standard of evidence-based care to a specified group of patients.
• To always adhere to the NMC Code of Professional Conduct.
• To be responsible for the nursing management of a group of patients, using the nursing process.
• To always maintain patient confidentiality.
• To support patients, relatives, carers and friends and where appropriate involve them in the care of the patient.
• To be fully involved in the health education of patients and relatives, identifying each opportunity to promote a healthy lifestyle.
• To liaise effectively with all members of the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) to ensure that patients’ needs are met and that services are delivered in accordance with National Service Frameworks and agreed Clinical Care Guidelines.
• To ensure that relevant information regarding the patients’ needs / condition are communicated to the MDT and that any instructions are acted upon.
• To be aware of the need to adhere to the Trust’s policy on valuing equality and diversity in the workplace, which incorporates the patients’ / visitors’ and staff perspective.
• To have due regard for each patient’s cultural and religious beliefs and to respect each patient’s privacy, dignity, gender and sexuality.
• To acknowledge personal limitations in patient care and seek advice from senior staff members.
• To rotate to other departments within the speciality as required or as identified as a personal development need in the appraisal process.
• To be involved with nursing audit/essence of care/observations of care.
• To report adverse incidents which occur in the department as per policy and to assist in the investigation of such incidences.
• To always ensure contemporaneous record-keeping and in line with the Trust policy on documentation.
• Ensure clear and accurate written and verbal information is always given, including patient handovers.
• Participate in Trust and Care Group initiatives to develop nursing practice and support change.

Education and Research

• To be aware of current research and the possible implications for the ward speciality.
• To update knowledge in the light of current research and practice.
• To act as a practice supervisor/assessor for student nurses /HCA’s.
• To act as a preceptor to newly qualified staff.
• To actively participate in the training process by demonstrating and directly supervising, and by negotiating learning contracts.
• To liaise with appropriate members of teaching staff, link lecturer/lecturer practitioner.

Management

• To always act as a role model.
• To exercise leadership where appropriate.
• To anticipate day to day staffing problems and take appropriate. action in conjunction with the team leader, sister/charge nurse and head of nursing, to ensure good standards of care for the patient are always maintained.
• To give support and advice to junior ward staff on both clinical and administrative problems.
• To ensure effective admission/discharge of patients whilst liaising with the discharge co-ordinator/bed manager.
• To keep the ward sister/charge nurse informed of significant changes in the day-to-day situation in the department.
• To act as a liaison within the multi-disciplinary team to ensure optimum, timely patient care.
• To observe a general duty of care for the health, safety and well-being of self, work colleagues, visitors and patients within the hospital, in addition to any specific risk management associated with this post.

Personal professional development

• Ensure clinical and administrative policies and procedures are adhered to.
• To take responsibility for own professional development and to develop agreed action plan with ward sister/charge nurse.
• To participate in own performance appraisal with the ward sister/charge nurse.