Helen, Emergency Nurse Practitioner, Antrim Area Hospital View the video here
Most nurses in the Emergency Departments choose to work in a role which enables them to regularly deliver direct patient care providing safe effective person centered care on a day to day basis. Through on-going education, continuous professional development, (CPD) mentoring and supervision, Emergency Department Nurses can develop very specialist and autonomous clinical roles, including Emergency Nurse Practitioner (ENP), Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP), Medical Nurse Practitioner (MNP) and Emergency Nurse Consultant.
Click on the links below to read more about role opportunities in Clinical practice.
Click here to view Real Life Stories from Emergency Nurses in the above roles.
Click here for information on the Royal College of Emergency Medicine – Emergency Care Advanced Clinical Practitioner
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Emergency Nurse
Laura, Band 5 Staff Nurse Altnagelvin Hospital – read her story
An Emergency Care Nurse is a nurse who has successfully gone through a period of preceptorship and has achieved the Level 1 Emergency Care Association (ECA) competencies.
They are able to work with individual patients or groups of patients unsupervised within the emergency care setting.
An Emergency Nurse is characterised by high degrees of knowledge and skills, which encompasses initial assessment and decision-making power to ensure that patients are prioritised in an appropriate manner while ensuring immediate interventions are commenced if required.
In Emergency Departments, this is likely to include working with patients in the resuscitation room, those with major illness or injury and those with minor ailment presentations. They then work towards achieving Level 2 Emergency Care Association (ECA) competencies.
Click here to view NIPEC’s Preceptorship Framework
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Emergency Nurse Practitioner
Caroline, Emergency Nurse Practitioner Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children
As a senior member of the Team the Emergency Nurse Practitioner (ENP) is an experienced emergency nurse who has undertaken a specific course of study at post-graduate level to gain the knowledge and skills to assess, diagnose and decide on the appropriate course of treatment for patients. ENPs practice autonomously, using a person-centred approach, within their expanded scope of clinical practice, for which they are accountable. A significant level of education and skills development takes place in clinical practice “on the job” including shadowing and being clinically supervised by senior medical staff allowing ENPs to build up clinical portfolios. ENPs work collaboratively with other Emergency Department staff and other members of the Multidisciplinary Team providing support and advice on Minor injuries / ailments. They play a key role in the delivery of teaching activities within the Emergency Department and contribute to policy and service development and service improvement initiatives. ENPs act as a role model and provide leadership for others. Northern Ireland through the Professional Framework for Emergency Care Nursing has developed a regionally agreed clinical skills development framework for ENPs.
Listed below are courses relevant to the role:
Ulster University
- BSc (Hons) in Specialist Practice Qualification
- Minor Injuries Course
- Minor Illness Course
- Non-Medical Prescribing
View the Emergency Nurse Practitioner suggested clinical skills and development.
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Advanced Clinical Practitioner
Olivia, Advanced Clinical Practitioner – Nursing Royal Victoria Hospital – read her story
The role of Advanced Nurse Practitioner: Emergency Nursing is new to Northern Ireland and demonstrates the advancement if nursing practice over the years. An Advanced Nurse Practitioner is a nurse who has undertaken a specific course of study at post-graduate level .
The Advanced Nurse Practitioner undertakes comprehensive health assessments, and manages a range of illnesses and conditions that frequently present in the Emergency Department. As an independent practitioner he/she is enabled to clinically assess, diagnose, prescribe, admit or discharge patients independently.
Northern Ireland’s Department of Health (DoH) has developed an Advanced Nursing Practice Framework to provide clarity about the Advanced Nurse Practitioner.
The Framework
- Provides a definition of Advanced Nursing Practice
- Highlights the associated professional support and supervision required by Advanced Nurse Practitioners
- Identifies the core competencies and learning outcomes essential for the Advanced Nursing Practice role
- Acts as a guide for Commissioners, workforce planners, Executive Directors of Nursing, education providers, employers and managers of nurses, including nurses themselves.
A range of education programmes specific to nursing in the Emergency Care setting are available at Queens University, Belfast and the Ulster University, follow the links below to find out more information.
Please note that direct links to courses and programmes are not available as these are subject to change
| Queens University, Belfast | Ulster University |