Nurse Practitioner - Full Time

THE ROLE

The Nurse Practitioner (NP) acts as a primary care provider to residents in the Home and works within her/his legislative scope of practice as described and outlined by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). Accountable to the Director of Care and Medical Director, the NP works with the Home Nursing Leadership Team to effectively provide care to residents in compliance with peopleCare policies, procedures, and protocols for medical services.

JOB FUNCTION:

The Attending NP collaborates with the resident and family/caregiver, and the health care team in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the resident’s plan of care; provides leadership and mentorship to LTCH staff that enhances their knowledge, assessment skills, and ability to care for residents in place; and leads and collaborates in research, education, and evidence-based practice initiatives to optimize the resident, LTCH and health system outcomes.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provides comprehensive primary care to residents as part of the interdisciplinary health care team.
• Increases continuity of care through collaboration, consultation, and referral as appropriate:
• Collaborates and consults with physicians, the Director of Care, nursing staff, interdisciplinary team members and external resources regarding residents’ plan of care.
• Assists, supports, guides, and provides consultation to the Director of Care, nursing staff and interdisciplinary team members regarding challenging clinical situations.
• Makes referrals to specialized consultants, services, and other health providers.
• Accepts referrals from interdisciplinary team members.
• Performs a person-centered health assessment of residents on admission, annually and as needed (including quarterly medication reviews).
• Conducts person-centered comprehensive health histories.
• Engages with residents in regular dialogue about their care plans.
• Participates in regular care conferences.
• Orders and/or performs appropriate screening and diagnostic investigations, interpreting results and assuming responsibility for follow-up.
• Diagnoses acute and chronic health conditions.
• Manages the care of residents by providing pharmacological, complementary and/or counseling interventions, and performs procedures within the NP scope of practice.
• Advocates for and provides palliative and end-of-life care.
• Documents clinical data, assessment findings, diagnoses, plans of care, therapeutic interventions, resident responses, and clinical rationale in a timely and accurate manner.
• Utilizes communication and counseling skills:
•  Engages residents in dialogue to determine what is important to them for health and quality of life.
• Provides person-focused health education.
• Collaborates with the resident to develop a person-centered plan of care.
• Provides outreach and transitional services to LTCH residents who return to the community.
• Liaises with discharge planning services for hospitalized residents to ensure a smooth transition back to the LTCH.
• Participates in providing after hours and on-call coverage.
• Participates in internal (e.g., Professional Advisory Committee, Quality Committee) and external committees.
• Assume lead of a clinical program (e.g., Palliative Care) as requested by Director of Care
• Identifies, develops, and implements practice innovations, in collaboration with the leadership team.
• Provides formal and informal teaching and coaching in the management of clinical care to interdisciplinary team members, serving as resource person, educator and role model and contributes to the performance appraisals of registered nursing staff.
• Provides leadership in developing and implementing strategies to optimize the integration of illness and injury prevention, health promotion, health maintenance, rehabilitation and restorative care activities.
• Participates in identifying, analyzing, and interpreting trends in resident care outcomes and professional nursing practice issues to determine priorities for educational programming.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Nurse Practitioner Certification from a recognized program.
• Must possess current registration with the College of Nurses of Ontario as Registered Nurse in the Extended Class or RN (EC) and be in good standing.
• Must maintain competencies as per the governing College standards.
• Advanced knowledge and decision-making skills in assessment, diagnosis, and health care management.
• Experience in Long-Term Care considered an asset.
• Experience working with seniors and unregulated care providers.
• Education and experience in gerontology, rehabilitation, community/complex/long term care an asset.
• Must possess strong written and oral communication, critical thinking, care coordination, time management and customer focus skills.
• Must have demonstrated sound clinical knowledge and ability to delegate to unregulated care providers.
• Skills in use of computer and Microsoft Office applications.