Advanced Clinical Practitioner - Emergency Medicine

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Expertise & excellence in clinical practice: 

·         Deliver evidence-based personalised and compassionate care which places quality at the heart of specialist practice. Care will be responsive to individual patient needs and reflect current local protocols and national guidelines

·         Utilise high levels of autonomy and advocacy, using analytical and judgemental skills in undertaking differential diagnosis to ensure the delivery of an expert level of care, developing their own and others knowledge within Emergency Medicine.

·         Manage their own caseload of patients including comprehensive review of patients, requesting diagnostics, reviewing results and creating and implementing management plans within the speciality and prioritise workload to meet patient and service need.

·         Independent and supplementary prescribing including discharge of patients, within current legislative and local frameworks.

·         Implement pathways of care, adapting to patients’ emerging needs by ensuring a planned and co-ordinated approach to care, supporting enhanced recovery and reducing inappropriate admissions to improve patient experience and safety.

·         Refer directly to other health care professionals and specialist departments as necessary, to ensure optimal efficiency and quality of care.

·         Act as a patient advocate to facilitate the process of shared decision-making in respect to health, choice of treatment and care. Use interpersonal and communication skills where there may be significant barriers in order to build confidence. Ensure that patients’ individual needs are expressed and valued and individual management plans are understood.

·         Act as a resource, providing clinical expertise, specialist advice and support across service boundaries to ensure optimum liaison and co-ordination of care.

·         Undertake clinical competencies relevant to this specialist service to develop autonomous expertise in an advanced role. Actively integrate theory and practice.

·         Advise on diagnosis and symptom management for patients within the speciality. Evaluate response to interventions and advise on the adaptation of management and assess the need for speciality referral or discharge from the Emergency Department.

·         Undertake clinical competencies relevant to this specialist service to develop autonomous expertise in an advanced role. Actively integrate theory and practice.

·         Advise on diagnosis and symptom management for patients within the speciality. Evaluate response to interventions and advise on the adaptation of management and assess the need for speciality referral or discharge from the Emergency Department.

Management and Leadership:

·         Provide clinical advice and leadership to others with the Emergency Department and across the organisation, acting as a role-model and demonstrating high standards of patient care.

•   Support trainee practitioners including responsibility for annual appraisal where applicable.
•       Contribute to budget planning and management as required.
•       Contribute to annual improvement plans and continuously review their own performance against these plans, taking action or escalating where appropriate.
•      Promote an ethos of continual service improvement and lead delegated projects, monitoring progress in terms of milestones and key measures of performance.
•       Strive to motivate and involve others in developments within Emergency Medicine.
•      Contribute to the clinical governance agenda.
•      Effectively and sensitively communicate highly complex and sensitive information to emotionally distressed patients and family/carers at key points with their episode of emergency care.
•      Create, manage and maintain robust links with inpatient specialities and community services to ensure patients are identified and moved swiftly into optimal care pathways to improve flow and patient outcomes.
•       Attend Emergency Department senior team meetings and contribute to the agenda and the strategic vision as required.

Education, Training and Development:  

  Support the development of trainee ACPs involved in the care of patients within all areas of the Emergency Department.

·         Influence the development of other professionals by leading or contributing to Trust-wide specialist education and training.

·         Deliver formal and informal teaching initiatives as part of the department and Trust’s education strategy as agreed with the appropriate senior staff to ensure practice development, staff empowerment and improved care for patients.

·         Act as a mentor/clinical supervisor as appropriate.

·         Take personal responsibility for life-long learning and personal development through clinical supervision and appraisal.  Actively engage with learning and development opportunities needed to work as an ACP and take appropriate action to ensure these needs are met.

·         Utilise a professional portfolio to develop enhanced clinical skills to deliver advanced service within Emergency Medicine.

·         Develop and monitor skills using best available evidence to support development.

·         Identify and use educational strategies to deliver complex information to patients and carers.

·         Contribute to Trust-wide advanced practice education agenda.

Quality, audit, innovation & research: 

Work within their own profession’s code of professional conduct.

·         Contribute to the development of policies and clinical guidelines within the specialty.

·         Collaborate with other members of the multi-disciplinary team to develop and update multi-professional Trust operational policies and guidelines.

·         Maintain accurate patient records and ensure effective documentation.

·         Use creative reasoning, experience and vision to advance care.

·         Develop new skills in response to emerging knowledge and techniques.

·         Support the development of a research-based culture within the clinical area and act as a resource to others in relation to evidence-based emergency care.

·         Ensure research findings are utilised as a basis for best practice.

·         Contribute to the development of clinical audit in their own specialist area.

·         Participate in clinical research relevant to their practice area.

·         Attend local forums to network and debate issues to inform the Advanced Clinical Practice role and service delivery.