The Palliative Care Advanced Practice Nurse will work as part of the Cancer and Ambulatory Division (CAS) Palliative Care Consultation Team.

You will play a key role in supporting the Palliative Care team on a day-to-day basis by providing high quality patient assessment, triaging of inpatient referrals, care planning and implementation of care plans both within CAS and the wider inpatient hospital environment. You will provide high level support and clinical reference to the level 2 Registered Nurses within the inpatient palliative care consultation team.

This position is responsible for driving service innovation and for the development of models of care for enhanced service provision.

The position is Monday to Friday, business hours.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Provide advanced comprehensive nursing assessment, planning and implementation of care in the field of Palliative Care working within the inpatient.
• Work collaboratively with medical team and nurse practitioner in triaging inpatient referrals and play a team leader role in coordinating the palliative care consultation team.
• Attend and participate in regular multidisciplinary meetings for palliative care consultation patients
• Use advanced knowledge, interpersonal and communication skills in, advocating for and the development of therapeutic relationships.
• Develop and share expert knowledge with nursing staff and other healthcare professionals.
• Actively participate in continuous quality improvement and education of others that contributes to standards and development of policies, procedures and practice guidelines to optimise evidence -based nursing practice.
• Actively participate in research projects, which contribute to the achievement of optimal outcomes for patients, their family and health services.
• Serve as a role model for colleagues and the community by accepting accountability and responsibility for advanced professional judgement, actions and continued competence.
• Provide clinical nursing leadership by articulating the rationale for innovation in nursing practice and responding to, and advocating for, the needs of the patient/clients, professional colleagues and the community.
• Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the organisation.

Specific competencies include but are not limited to the following.

• Advanced level of autonomous clinical and professional practice and decision making in relation to specialist palliative care.
• Use evidence based clinical practice to facilitate positive outcomes for recipients of health care services.
• Expertise and responsibility for the provision of advice across at least one of the domains of clinical care, leadership, management, education or research.
• Provide clinical and professional leadership.
• Identify and conduct quality improvement activities and initiate the development of quality benchmarks to measure service performance and outcomes for recipients of health care services.
• Participate in innovation and change to develop responses to address emerging service needs.
• Work collaboratively in leading implementation of policy, practice changes and clinical innovations.

Specific qualifications include, but are not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Tertiary qualification or related qualification in nursing
• Be registered or be eligible for registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Desirable

• Holds or working towards post graduate qualification in Advanced Nursing practice with a focus on Palliative Care.
• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role

Specific experience includes, but is not limited to, the following.

Essential

• Minimum of 5 years full-time equivalent post qualification experience working professionally in oncology/ or cancer stream specific nursing

Desirable

• Previous experience with the management of patients and families with specialist palliative care needs.
• Experience or knowledge of the CHS Exceptional Care Framework, Clinical Governance Framework, Partnering With Consumers Framework

• Pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Proven current knowledge and clinical competence at an advanced nursing practice level and an ability to provide comprehensive development and implementation of care plans utilising evidence-based practices in the palliative care environment and the ability to negotiate goals of care both with and on behalf of patients.
2. Demonstrated excellence in communication, advocacy and coordination of complex care for patients with life-limiting illness and their families, including effective engagement with multidisciplinary teams and utilisation of resources and support services within the ACT and surrounding region.
3. Demonstrated experience in the education, mentoring and professional development of self and others, including a commitment to fostering clinical excellence and evidence-based practice.
4. Demonstrated ability to participate in and contribute to policy development, quality improvement, risk management, research and change management initiatives, incorporating contemporary evidence, innovation and best practice.
5. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, work health and safety (WH&S) and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CHS values of Reliable, Progressive, Respectful and Kind.

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.

Administrative	Frequency
Telephone use	Frequently
General computer use	Frequently
Extensive keying/data entry	Frequently
Graphical/analytical based	Occasionally
Sitting at a desk	Frequently
Standing for long periods	Occasionally

Travel	Frequency
Frequent travel – multiple work sites	Never
Frequent travel – driving	Never

Physical demands	Frequency
Distance walking (large buildings or inter-building transit)	Occasionally
Working outdoors	Never

Psychosocial demands	Frequency
Distressed People e.g. Emergency or grief situations	Frequently
Aggressive & Uncooperative People e.g. drug / alcohol, dementia, mental illness	Occasionally
Unpredictable People e.g. Dementia, mental illness, head injuries	Occasionally
Restraining e.g. involvement in physical containment of clients/consumers	Never
Exposure to Distressing Situations e.g. Child abuse, viewing dead / mutilated bodies; verbal abuse; domestic violence; suicide	Occasionally

Specific hazards	Frequency
Working at heights	Never
Exposure to extreme temperatures	Never
Operation of heavy machinery e.g. forklift	Never
Confined spaces	Never
Excessive noise	Never
Low lighting	Never
Handling of dangerous goods/equipment e.g. gases; liquids; biological.	Never
Slippery or uneven surfaces	Never

Manual handling	Frequency
Lifting 0 – 9kg	Occasionally
Lifting 10 – 15kg	Never
Lifting 16kg+	Never
Climbing	Never
Running	Never
Reaching	Occasionally
Kneeling	Occasionally
Foot and leg movement	Frequently
Hand, arm and grasping movements	Frequently
Bending/squatting	Occasionally
Bend/Lean Forward from Waist/Trunk twisting	Occasionally
Push/pull	Occasionally
Sequential repetitive movements in a short amount of time	Occasionally