Rheumatology Clinical Nurse Specialist | Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

This is a unique opportunity to join our Rheumatology team as a Clinical Nurse Specialist to help manage patients with a wide range of rheumatological conditions. In this role, you will deliver specialist care, collaborate with the multidisciplinary team of specialist nurses, pharmacists, consultants and administrative staff, and play a key part in improving outcomes for patients. Rheumatology experience is desirable, however a comprehensive training and support plan will be provided to the post holder.

• Develop and provide comprehensive clinical care, specialist advice and support to patients with a vast range of rheumatological conditions.
• Work as an independent practitioner alongside the multidisciplinary team and deliver high-quality specialist nurse-led clinics.
• Assess individuals, families and populations holistically using a range of different methods, some of which may not be usually exercised by nurses such as physical assessment and history taking, ordering and interpreting diagnostic tests or health needs assessments.
• Decide on and carry out treatment, which may include the prescribing of medicines within their scope of practice or referring patients to an appropriate specialist.
• Assess and evaluate, with patients and /or carers, the effectiveness of the treatment and care provided and make changes as needed.
• Provide specialist support and advice to patients through the running of the Rheumatology advice line.
• Build strong professional relationships with counterparts within the rheumatology unit, consultant team and directorate management team.
• Participate in clinical audits and quality improvement projects within rheumatology.
• Meet professional and local standards within musculoskeletal service in relation to role.
• Be flexible within the service to ensure appropriate specialist cover.
• Cope with service pressures and manage unpredictable work patterns in general rheumatology, specialist clinics and the Rheumatology Day Unit (RDU).
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trustis one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. The Trust comprises four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury. Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community. We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence and its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence. These values put patients at the heart of what we do and underpin the quality healthcare we would like for ourselves or a member of our family. Watch how we set out to deliver compassionate excellence via theOUH YouTube channel. Clinical · Practice in compliance with their respective code of professional conduct, being responsible and accountable for their decisions, actions, or omissions at this level of practice · Work towards demonstrating a critical understanding of their broadened level of responsibility and autonomy, recognising the limits of their own competence and scope of practice, to include when working with complexity, risk or uncertainty · Develops own professional judgment skills identifying when to escalate and seek help/guidance, critically reflecting on practice, self-awareness, emotional intelligence and their willingness to change or challenge thought processes. · Learn to work in partnership with individuals, families and carers, using a range of assessment methods as appropriate which may include history-taking and physical assessments, holistic assessments, identifying risk factors, mental health assessments, requesting/undertaking and/or interpreting speciality-specific diagnostic tests, and conducting health needs assessments. · Develops effective communication skills, supporting people in making decisions, planning care or seeking to make positive health changes, promoting person-centred approaches in health and care. · Develops effective communication skills with colleagues both internally and/or externally, in verbal, non-verbal and written communication methods, adapting to changing parameters as required; this includes thorough accurate documentation in patient records as required. · Provides and receives sensitive, complex or contentious information relating to patient care, and communicates information to patients, families or carers with respect, compassion and empathy. · Develops proficiency and clinical acumen in relation to decision-making skills, to inform clinical reasoning approaches when dealing with specialty-specific presentations; synthesising information from multiple sources to make appropriate, evidence-based judgements within scope, knowing when to refer or escalate care. · Works towards increasing knowledge and skills, in order to initiate, evaluate and modify a range of interventions, which may include the prescribing of medications, therapies, lifestyle advice and care. · For registered professionals authorised to prescribe, in roles requiring therapeutic medications and treatments, and after approval from the Trust's respective Non-Medical Prescribing Lead, the Clinical Nurse Specialist will prescribe medications safely and effectively in line with their scope of practice, utilising local or organisation guidelines, National Guideline, and adhering to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Prescribing Standards, and those of their professional regulatory body (e.g. NMC). · Develops professional judgement to manage risk appropriately with support and clinical supervision, especially where there may be complex and unpredictable events, promoting the safety and wellbeing of individuals, families and carers. · Begins to act as a clinical role model/advocate for developing and delivering care that is responsive to changing requirements, informed by local service and local population health needs, external agencies and/or wider networks. · Demonstrates evidence underpinning Rheumatology-specific role capabilities and competencies, relevant to the clinical setting and own scope of practice, in line with any relevant service specific curriculum/frameworks for training.

Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.