Skill Mix Solutions in Emergency Care
Role of the Nurse Consultant
Paula Bennett – Nurse Consultant
Emergency Department
• Background
• Domains of a Nurse Consultant role
• What can a Nurse Consultant offer in
Emergency Care
• How can the effectiveness of a Nurse Consultant
role be maximised
Background
• 1st proposed by RCN in 1975
• Tony Blair 1999
– Clinical career path for senior nurses
– Maintain expertise at the bedside
– Better patient outcomes
• Improving quality
• Strengthening clinical leadership
Domains of the NC role
• 4 domains (DH 2000)
– Practice (>50%)
– Education, training and development
– Research & evaluation, practice and service
development
– Leadership & consultancy
• Partnership working
• Whole role greater than sum of the parts
Current challenges
• Emergency Care
– Performance
– Increasing attendances
– Inexperienced
workforce
– Recruitment problems
• Nursing
• Medicine
• Critical importance of
– patient experience
– safe and effective
care
– productivity
– innovation
Emergency Nursing
• Senior Nurses
– Significant management remit
– ED/MAU/ACU etc. etc.
– Performance target and challenges with flow
• Nursing roles advanced beyond initial registration
– Unique core ED nursing skills
– ENPs
– ANPs
– Non-medical prescribing
What can an NC role offer
• Transformational culture
– Change as a way of life
• Staff empowerment
• Practice development
• Partnership and cross-boundary working
What can an NC role offer
• Educator, trainer and developer
– Practitioners increased confidence and
competency
– Consistent practice
– Improved patient safety
– Risk reduction
Capturing the impact of NC roles
• Clear organisational objectives
• For patients, staff and the organisation
– What is the
•
•
•
•
Added value
Difference
Impact
Return on investment
How to maximise the impact
• Organisations must
– Understand and recognise NCs’ value and contribution
at executive level.
• ensure that NCs have the strategic and organisational
authority and the ongoing support necessary to achieve
their full potential
– Appoint NCs with the full range of skills required to
transform practice and services
• provide ongoing support for those NCs without the full range
of skills to develop these promptly
• actively implement succession planning for aspiring NCs
– recognise the skills required when developing others for these
posts, and how outcomes are dependent on the skills and
experience possessed
Manley & Titchen (2011)
References
• Manley & Titchen (2012) Becoming and being a Nurse Consultant. RCN
http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/444299/003574.pdf
• Gerrish, MacDonald & Kennedy (2011) Capturing the Impact of Nurse
Consultants. Sheffield Hallam University
http://research.shu.ac.uk/hwb/ncimpact/index.html
• Leary (2011) Capturing the return on investment of Nurse Consultants
within English Acute NHS Trusts. Sheffield Hallam University
http://research.shu.ac.uk/hwb/ncimpact/Return%20of%20Investment%2
0report%20final.pdf
• Gavin-Daley & Mullen (2010) Ten Years On – An evaluation of the nonMedical Consultant Role in the North West. NHS NW.
https://www.ewin.nhs.uk/storage/northwest/files/Knowledge_Exchange/
169/Executive_Summary_and_Main_Findings_September_20101.pdf
Any questions?