Apprenticeship training course

District nurse (level 7)

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Information about District nurse (level 7)

Caring for patients with a wide range of health conditions.

• Knowledge, skills and behaviours:
  View knowledge, skills and behaviours

  Knowledge

  • The complex causes, signs, symptoms and impact of interacting physical and mental health conditions
  • The principles of delivering and evaluating safe and effective palliative and end of life care including the principles of managing symptoms and involving carers
  • The principles, concepts and theories of evidence-based therapeutic interventions
  • How to apply the principles of case management
  • The principles of risk stratification
  • How to recognise, manage and evaluate the deterioration of patients in order to decide effective anticipatory care
  • The principles of managing long term conditions and interactions between long term conditions
  • The complex risks to patients in transition between services
  • How to use assessment and decision making models and proactive case management for effective care planning
  • Advanced communication skills to develop therapeutic relationships
  • The principles of advocacy and acting as the patients advocate in complex situations whilst also respecting the patient’s autonomy and ensuring ethical principles are upheld
  • The local and national policies, regulatory frameworks and guidelines for care e.g. prescribing
  • Pharmacotherapeutics relative to your scope of practice
  • The range of advanced physical, psychological and population based assessment methods and the application of pathophysiology to underpin assessment and diagnosis
  • The principles of social prescribing
  • The strategies and methodologies for effective teaching, learning and staff development
  • The local and national policies and procedures within your role and the NMC code
  • The principles and concepts of accountability in the role of District Nurse team leader and how to delegate responsibility
  • The theories, techniques and models of leadership, management and team working and how these can be applied across professional boundaries in health and social care
  • The principles of workload and workforce planning and application to practice including when to make the case for service changes
  • How to avoid unnecessary admission and facilitate timely discharge when there are many interacting factors
  • The range of appropriate places of care and how to facilitate and justify access to these
  • The principles of consent and capacity in relation to the mental capacity act and deprivation of liberties
  • Core assessment skills to assess mental wellbeing within the scope of the role and the limits of competence
  • The theories, methods and principles of health promotion and prevention
  • The range of advanced health promotion tools available for use
  • The theories, methods and principles underpinning self-care e.g. motivational interviewing and advanced communication skills
  • The theories, methods and principles of quality assurance, service improvement and change management
  • How to formulate specialist business cases for service change and improvement
  • How to apply the audit process and change management theories related to district nursing practice
  • How to critically analyse, interpret and evaluate data and information
  • How to foster a culture of openness and learning
  • The theories, methods and principles of leadership
  • How to use the public health outcomes framework
  • How to critically analyse, interpret and evaluate wider public health and demographic data
  • How to create a community profile
  • The complex range of evaluation and audit methods used in clinical practice
  • Critical appraisal techniques and how to apply them to clinical practice
  • The service evaluation and improvement methodology
  • Research methodology and how to implement research
  • The range of evidence-based strategies to manage risk in clinical practice and in relation to the different environments a district nurse works within
  • The cost benefit and individual analysis of the risks, taking account of individual’s views and responsibilities
  • Relevant safeguarding policies and procedures
  • How to apply the principles of confidentiality and information sharing policies
  • How to influence and the importance of political awareness
  • The principles of resilience and how this is built within yourself and others

  Skills

  • Manage a caseload of patients in a variety of community settings using a person centred approach including implementation of risk stratification and case management strategies to determine those at most risk of poor health outcomes
  • Use specialised skills to work collaboratively with the patient and the multidisciplinary team, to improve anticipatory care, self-management, facilitate timely discharges and reduce avoidable hospital admissions to enable care to be delivered closer to, or at home
  • Manage and co-ordinate programmes of care, for individuals with complex acute and long term conditions, striving to make the patient journey seamless between mental and physical health care, hospital and community services and between primary and community care
  • Assess when a referral is required and maintain overall responsibility for the management and co-ordination of care
  • Manage the delivery of service whilst critically evaluating the capacity and demand and being mindful of patient and staff safety
  • Autonomously assess the complex health needs of people, families and other informal carers to formulate care plans, anticipatory care and care packages
  • Appropriately manage problems and make decisions in partnership with people, families and other informal carers using advanced communication skills
  • Use evidence based physical and clinical assessments of individuals with complex health care needs to make accurate diagnostic decisions, including prescribing
  • Lead and support the clinical team to provide community nursing interventions in a range of settings
  • Manage clear lines of accountability for the assurance of clinical governance and care quality
  • Manage the district nursing team within regulatory, professional, legal, ethical and policy frameworks ensuring staff feel valued and developed
  • Critically analyse, act on and evaluate trends and demands on the district nursing service to inform workload and workforce planning
  • Work with other services, teams and colleagues to support fewer unnecessary admissions and facilitate timely discharges
  • Assess and identify the mental capacity of people
  • Use specialised skills to work in partnership with individuals, formal and informal carers and other services to promote health education, self-care and patient-led care, to maximise the individual’s independence and understanding of their condition(s)
  • Critically analyse, interpret and evaluate complex data and information to improve patient care
  • Determine and use specialised skills to influence and negotiate the development of operational plans for the service
  • Lead a team to deliver service improvement and change management that involves many interacting factors
  • Quality assure services and make service improvements
  • Determine and use specialised skills to influence and negotiate the development of public health initiatives
  • Collaborate with other agencies to analyse and evaluate public health principles, priorities and practice and implement these policies
  • Participate in the collation of a community profile to understand local assets
  • Utilise position within the organisation to influence position of community nursing teams in the provision of care for communities under their umbrella
  • Engage in research activity and develop evidence-based strategies to enhance the quality, safety, productivity and value for money of health and care
  • Lead improvements to care service delivery through the implementation of research findings, best practice, outcome of audits and patient feedback
  • Critically assess and evaluate risk using a variety of specialised tools across a broad spectrum of often interrelated and unpredictable situations, including staff, and people within their home environments
  • Formulate and implement risk assessment and management strategies that take account of people’s views and responsibilities, whilst promoting patient and staff safety and preventing avoidable harm to individuals, carers and staff
  • Ensure all staff are able to recognise vulnerability of adults and children and understand their responsibilities and those of other organisations in terms of safeguarding legislation, policies and procedures
  • Lead the service change required to deliver services and evaluate the outcome
  • Develop, support and train the team to meet new and evolving requirements in patient care

  Behaviours

  • Treat people with dignity at all times
  • Respect people’s diversity, beliefs, culture and individual needs
  • Show respect and empathy for patients, their families and carer’s and those you work with at all times
  • Be adaptable, reliable and consistent and have the courage to challenge areas of concern
  • Show flexibility, self-awareness and emotional intelligence when dealing with patients, carers, teams and self
  • Act as a positive role model for staff and teams
• Apprenticeship category (sector): Health and science
• Qualification level: 7; Equal to master’s degree
• Course duration: 24 months
• Maximum funding: £10,000 ; Maximum government funding for ; apprenticeship training and assessment costs.
• Job titles include:
  • District nurse

View more information about District nurse (level 7) from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.