Highly Specialist Physiotherapist - Critical Care and Cardiothoracics

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Patient / customer care (both direct and indirect)

1.1To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of your own work including the management of patients in your care. To ensure a high standard of clinical care for the patients under your management and support more junior staff to do likewise on a daily basis.

1.2 To accept clinical responsibility for a designated caseload of patients, and to organise this effectively and efficiently with regard to clinical priorities and use of time.

1.3 To assess capacity, gain valid informed consent and have the ability to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment.

1.4 To demonstrate highly developed dexterity, co-ordination and palpatory senses for assessment and manual treatment of patients.

1.5 To undertake an advanced comprehensive assessment of patients, including those with a complex presentation, using investigative and analytical skills, and to formulate individualised management and treatment plans using clinical reasoning, and utilising a wide range or treatment skills and options to formulate a specialised programme of care.

1.6 To interpret and analyse clinical and non-clinical facts to form accurate diagnosis and prognoses in a wide range of highly complex conditions, to recommend the best course of intervention, and to develop comprehensive discharge plans.

1.7 To be responsible for ensuring effective selection and use of all treatment resources available.

1.8 To maintain accurate, comprehensive and up to date documentation, in line with legal and departmental requirements, and to communicate assessment and treatment results to the appropriate disciplines and patients in the form of reports and letters.

1.9 To plan and organise efficiently and effectively with regard to patient management and use of time (both of self and others within the team).

1.10 To be contactable throughout the working day via the bleep system  (this could be by physiotherapy staff, the MDT or patients) and to be able to immediately change planned activity without prior knowledge, sometimes in order to respond to emergency situations.

1.11 To be responsible for the training of staff in the care of hospital patients from basic to complex including terminally ill patients. 

1.12 To communicate effectively with patients and carers to maximise physiotherapy treatment/ rehabilitation potential and to ensure understanding of condition and physiotherapy involvement.

1.13 To provide spontaneous and planned advice, teaching and instruction to relatives, carers, patients and other professionals to promote understanding of the aims of physiotherapy, and to ensure a consistent approach to patient care. 

1.14 To give specialist advice, teaching and training to other members of the Multidisciplinary team (MDT) regarding the medical management of patients with cardiorespiratory problems.

1.15 To give specialist advice to the MDT and medical staff (to consultant level) regarding physiotherapy techniques.

1.16 To lecture and to train other staff to provide post-operative
physiotherapy advice at the cardiac discharge talks on the ward.

1.17 To co-ordinate and ensure effective delivery of the weekend services and any future 7 day services ensuring that the rotas are covered.

1.18 To participate in co-ordination and delivery of training to on-call staff ensuring competence in carrying out on-call and weekend cover in cardiothoracic/ cardiology wards.

1.19 At times staff may facilitate transfers between sites/ other trusts of critically ill patients on non-invasive ventilation, through the competent use of the machine and battery pack.

1.20 To be an active member of the overnight and weekend on call service, and to provide specialist advice on a daily basis to other on-call staff regarding all aspects of cardiorespiratory physiotherapy but highly specialist advice in cardiothoracic surgery/cardiology/ ITU.

1.21 To be aware of health and safety aspects of your work and implement any policies, which may be required to improve the safety of your work area including your prompt recording and reporting of accidents to senior staff, and ensuring that equipment use is safe.

1.22 To carry risk assessments within own patient caseload and environment on a daily basis (health & safety and clinical) and to minimise risk within the team.

Policy development

2.1 To regularly participate in working parties developing policy changes within cardiothoracic surgery/cardiology which will impact on all service users.

2.2 To be involved in development of relevant clinical guidelines for best practice.

2.3 To attend Critical care network meetings representing the Physiotherapy department externally as required.

2.4 To ensure that designated staff implement policy and service development changes.

2.5 To represent the physiotherapy department at management level as appropriate.

2.6 To comply with the organisational and departmental policies and procedures and to be involved in the reviewing and updating as appropriate.

Service development

3.1 To work with the Therapy and Clinical specialty leads in the strategic and operational management of the private inpatient physiotherapy service.

3.2 To undertake the measurement and evaluation of your work and current practices through the use of evidence based practice projects, audit and outcome measures, either individually or with clinical specialist/ manager. To be able to analyse this information to make recommendations for change.

3.3 To demonstrate a sound understanding of clinical governance and risk management and apply to work situations.

3.4 To undertake and involve physiotherapy staff in clinical research projects liaising with the Therapy Lead.

3.5 To decide priorities for own work area, balancing other patient related and professional demands, and ensure that these remain in accordance with those of the section as a whole.

People management

4.1 To train, supervise performance and manage more junior staff, physiotherapy assistants and students. This will include the use of formal appraisal documentation, management of poor performance and staff leave.

4.2 To maintain own continued professional development (CPD) by keeping abreast of any new trends and developments, and incorporate them as necessary into your work.

4.3 To be an active member of the in-service training programme by the attendance and delivery of presentations and training sessions at staff meetings, tutorials, training sessions in house and by attending external courses/ conferences and practising reflective practice.

4.4 To participate in the staff appraisal scheme and personal development plan (PDP) as both appraiser and appraisee whilst ensuring all staff actively participate in CPD.

Communication

5.1 To empathise and be sensitive towards the clients and carers needs. To utilise all skills to overcome diverse barriers of communication.

5.2 To provide highly specialist advice to physiotherapy colleagues working in other clinical areas re: paediatric critical care, cardiac surgery and respiratory care. To provide advice to physiotherapists and other health care professionals from other trusts.

5.3 To represent the trust externally (locally, regionally and nationally and internationally) regarding medical management/ physiotherapy services provided to cardiothoracic surgery/cardiology.

5.4 To provide specialist education in the form of teaching, lectures and workshops.

5.5 To communicate effectively and work collaboratively with medical, nursing and allied health professional and other colleagues to ensure delivery of a co-ordinated multi-disciplinary service. This will include case conferences, ward rounds, discharge planning and joint working

5.6 To deal with complaints in accordance with Trust policy.

5.7 To instigate and maintain communication flows both within the hospital and local trusts/ health authorities regarding on-going care. Communication may be face to face, via e-mail, telephone or in written form.

5.8 To attend and participate in Intensive Care and thoracic surgical team ward rounds as required.