Paramedic Practitioner

**JOB DESCRIPTION**

**Title**:
PCN Paramedic Practitioner

**Pay Band**

**Responsible to**:
**Accountable to**:
**1. Job Role/Purpose**

The post holder is an experienced paramedic who, acting within their professional boundaries, will provide care for the presenting patient from initial history taking, clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of care. They will demonstrate safe, clinical decision-making and expert care, including assessment and diagnostic skills, for patients within the general practice.

The post holder will demonstrate critical thinking in the clinical decision-making process. They will work collaboratively with the general practice team to meet the needs of patients, supporting the delivery of policy and procedures, and providing leadership as required. The post holder will maintain a caring professional attitude at all times

**2. Key Duties & Responsibilities**

**Clinical practice**
- Assess, diagnose, plan, implement (prescribe if NMP) and evaluate treatment/interventions and care for patients presenting with an undifferentiated diagnosis.
- Clinically examine and assess patient needs from a physiological and psychological perspective, and plan clinical care accordingly.
- Assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate interventions/treatments for patients with complex needs.
- Proactively identify advise and refer patients at risk of developing a chronic condition.
- Diagnose and manage both acute and chronic conditions, integrating both drug and non-drug-based treatment methods into a management plan, within competence boundaries/needs of the service.
- Review medication for therapeutic effectiveness, appropriate to patient needs and in accordance with evidence-based practice and national and practice protocols, and within scope of practice.
- Work with patients in order to support compliance with and adherence to prescribed treatments.
- Provide information and advice on prescribed or over-the-counter medication on medication regimens, side-effects and interactions.
- Prioritise health problems and intervene appropriately to assist the patient in complex, urgent or emergency situations, including initiation of effective emergency care.
- Assess, identify and refer patients presenting with mental health needs in accordance with national guidance, and treating within sphere of competence.
- Promote and deliver evidence-based care for patients presenting with aural conditions.
- Meet the needs of patients presenting for opportunistic wound care.

**Communication**
- Utilise and demonstrate sensitive communication styles, to ensure patients are fully informed and consent to treatment.
- Communicate with and support patients who are receiving ‘bad news’.
- Communicate effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding, cultural background and preferred ways of communicating.
- Anticipate barriers to communication and take action to improve communication.
- Maintain effective communication within the practice environment and with external stakeholders.
- Act as an advocate for patients and colleagues.
- Ensure awareness of sources of support/guidance and provide information in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any difficulties and referring where appropriate.

**Delivering a quality service**
- Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the HCPC.
- Produce accurate, contemporaneous and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies and procedures.
- Prioritise, organise and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality.
- Deliver evidence-based care according to local and national eg, NICE guidelines.
- Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking and formal evaluation.
- Initiate and participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the organisation and its activities.
- Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required.
- In partnership with other clinical teams, collaborate on improving the quality of health care responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate.
- Evaluate patients’ response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care.
- Support and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation.
- Use a structured framework (e.g. root-cause analysis) to manage, review and identify learning from patient complaints, clinical incidents and near-miss events.
- Assess the impact of policy implementation on care delivery.
- Approve the performance of the team, providing feedback as appropriate.
- Ensure skills and knowledge regarding domestic violence, vulnerable adults, substance abuse and addictive behaviour are maintained. Provide guidance