Community Staff Nurse (DN)

COMMUNITY STAFF NURSE – District Nursing

The Community Staff Nurse is a member of the District Nursing Team led by the District Nurse. They deliver person and family centred care in the person’s home or in the community and assist people to make autonomous decisions about their care. The Community Staff Nurse uses a population health-based approach and works with GPs, other health and social care professionals, as well as individuals, families, carers and voluntary agencies.

The Community Staff Nurse provides care and supports individuals who have a wide range of conditions and complex care needs, including palliative and end of life care. They enable people including those living with long term conditions to be cared for safely in their home and where possible reduce unnecessary hospital attendances or admissions. The Community Staff Nurse also promotes self-care and independence, mental and physical health and well-being and prevention of ill health. The Community Staff Nurse works in a self-organised District Nursing team using collective leadership skills and participates in quality improvement activities within the team.

Listen to the Community Staff Nurse describing their role in District Nursing by clicking on their name.

The specific core competencies and education requirements relevant for Community Staff Nurses are presented below.

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• CLINICAL PRACTICE

  The Community Staff Nurse uses effective clinical and communication skills in the assessment and management of patients ensuring care is planned in partnership with them, their families and carers and relevant Health Care Professionals. The Community Staff Nurse will also deliver anticipatory and preventative care to meet the patient’s health and social care needs, in line with public health priorities.

   The Community Staff Nurse will:

  • Demonstrate effective communication skills to develop a therapeutic relationship with patients and articulate clearly the rationale for care and treatment to patients and their families/carers.
  • Demonstrate holistic person-centred assessment skills to determine patient needs utilising a range of evidence-based
  • Co-produce care plans with patients families and/or carers, develop therapeutic relationships and promote self-management and independence.
  • Deliver safe, effective person-centred care and/or treatment ensuring regular monitoring and evaluation of care
  • Understand symptom management for patients identified as palliative/end of life, intervening promptly and liaising with the District Nurse and other Healthcare professionals as necessary.
  • Recognise and manage the signs of a patient’s deteriorating health and/or social care status, referring to other health and social care professionals/agencies as necessary.
  • Demonstrate personal accountability and responsibility to monitor and evaluate the provision of safe, effective, person-centred care against local governance arrangements and escalate concerns immediately.
  • Undertake risk assessment and initiate measures to manage and reduce the level of risk; report and record findings and actions to the District Nurse
  • Maintain clear, accurate and contemporaneous records, in accordance with HSC Trust policies and professional standards.
  • Communicate effectively with other health and social care professionals involved in the patient’s care.
  • Participate in evidenced–based public health initiatives to enable people to maximise their health and well-being to “make every contact count” and recognise opportunities for anticipatory and preventative care e.g. elderly and frail population.
  • Understand approaches to influence behaviour change taking account of patients’ health beliefs and use brief intervention techniques to reduce health damaging behaviours.
  • Know when to liaise with relevant specialist services for people presenting with signs of mental ill health.
  • Develop digital literacy skills to enable effective use of a range of information technology applications and systems to support patient care.
• EDUCATION AND LEARNING

  The Community Staff Nurse will act as a positive role model and is able to recognise personal development needs and also facilitate learning for patients, carers, other staff and students. The Community Staff Nurse participates in education and learning opportunities and is supported to improve knowledge, skills and behaviours and maintain requirements for NMC revalidation.

  The  Community Staff  Nurse will:

  • Accept responsibility for own professional development and the maintenance of professional competence and NMC revalidation.
  • Engage in a range of learning activities and reflective supervision to improve care and practice.
  • Participate in appraisal and the development and implementation of Personal Development Plan to ensure continuous professional development.
  • Contribute to the development of learning materials in various formats for patients, their families/carers and students.
  • Facilitate students and other members of the District Nursing Team, to develop their knowledge, skills and experience, encouraging a supportive learning environment.
  • Learn from shared incident reporting to facilitate the delivery of safe, effective person centred care and services.
  • Participate and contribute to local professional fora and meetings.
  • Act as a supervisor /assessor for students and staff to facilitate learning.
• RESEARCH AND EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE

  The Community Staff Nurse has an enquiring approach to practice and updated knowledge and skills to promote and deliver safe, effective, person-centred care.

  The Community Staff Nurse will:

  • Critically appraise research and available evidence to enhance the quality, safety, and effectiveness of person-centred care.
  • Contribute to the audit of District Nursing quality indicators to improve patient care.
  • Engage in and actively contribute to quality improvement, quality assurance processes, service development/improvement initiatives and involve service users to improve patient outcomes.
  • Understand ethical implications when participating in audit, research, clinical trials or quality improvement activities.
• LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

  The Community Staff Nurse will work as a member of the Multi-disciplinary Team and with other agencies to provide a person-centred, co-ordinated and prevention-focussed district nursing service to the local community using a collective leadership approach.

  The Community Staff Nurse will:

  • Knowledge of the political, social and economic strategies/policies that impact on district nursing services and be able to demonstrate the value and unique contribution of the District Nursing Service.
  • Develop a personal leadership role and resilience skills supported by effective team working.
  • Demonstrate the ability to prioritise a delegated workload, manage time and work effectively within the team, using information systems.
  • Delegate clearly using the principles that underpin delegation (NIPEC 2019)¹³ including assessment of clinical risk and ongoing evaluation of delegated care.
  • Demonstrate the ability to recognise and challenge poor practice/performance and know how to raise and escalate concerns according to HSC Trust policies and professional guidance.
  • Contribute to Population Health Community Profiling and community health needs assessment to prioritise service delivery for health improvement.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of effective resource management.