Richmond Intensive Care Unit is the only dedicated neurosciences critical care unit for the Republic of Ireland as part of the national referral centre for patients with neurological or neurosurgical conditions. It consists of 10 level 3 beds which mange a variety of patient presentations including, but not limited to, traumatic brain injury, tumours of the brain, subarachnoid haemorrhage, intracranial haemorrhage, Guillain Barre syndrome, Myasthenia Gravis, post-operative cranial or spinal surgery, and stroke (thrombotic and haemorrhagic). It is a specialism that presents many challenges to patients and families - staff nurses play a pivotal role in supporting the treatment and rehabilitation of this patient cohort.
As a Staff Nurse in Beaumont Hospital you will be expected to take responsibility for a patient caseload (1:1 or 1:2 ratio). For these you will assess, plan, implement and evaluate care within the Roper, Logan and Tierney Model of Nursing. In addition, you are expected to practice within the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, 2025) and within the guidelines of hospital policy. You will be held accountable to the Clinical Nurse Manager (CNM2 or CNM3) and in their absence to the delegated nurse holding shift responsibility for the ward. At all times you will practice within the limits of your experience and will have available to you more senior expert nurses. Overall, your responsibilities may be divided into clinical, professional, managerial and educational categories. For nurses new to critical care nursing, you will receive support, supervision, and preceptorship through completion of our local induction programme which is led and administered by a dedicated clinical practice support nurse.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBIULITIES:
To maintain a high standard of nursing care:
- To develop clinical expertise, leadership and teaching skills through nursing practice.
- To share responsibility with the team for the management of nursing care and the patients environment under the direction of the Clinical Nurse Manager/Charge Nurse.
- To maintain a high standard of professional and ethical responsibility.
- To ensure safe discharge and transit of patients through the hospital.
CLINICAL ROLE:
To provide and maintain effective, individualised nursing care by:
- Assessing (with the patients where possible) physical, psychological and social problems and the need for nursing intervention
- Preparing and up-dating the documentation within a nursing framework to include treatment delegated by the Multidisciplinary team
- Acting as team leader (depending on context) in giving skilled nursing care and treatments for the patients within the unit
- Planning the involvement of the patient’s relatives, teaching and supervising nursing techniques in preparation for the transfer to other hospital departments or units.
- Actively promote effective discharge planning from the critical care area to the ward setting.
CLINICAL:
- Assessment
- Utilises assessment skills and techniques to determine patient actual and/or potential needs
- Completes and documents the nursing admission assessment in a thorough and accurate manner
- Assesses patient condition on an ongoing basis
- Assesses the need for patient/family instruction
- Planning
- Develops and documents a plan of care based on patient needs
- Develops patient teaching and discharge/transfer plans as necessary based on their current needs
- Collaborates with other health team members in planning care to expedite discharge safely
- Implementation
- Provides safe, comprehensive, and competent nursing care to a caseload of patients and within the guidelines laid out by NMBI
- Practices according to established legal requirements, policy and procedures
- Establishes care priorities based on nursing/medical patient problems
- Performs procedures accurately, completely and safely
- Following a period of supervised practice, candidates will provide care with minimal supervision in a timely manner
- Maintains a safe environment for patients
- Respects the dignity and confidentiality of patients, serving as an advocate as necessary
- Functions promptly and effectively in an emergency situation
- Adapts to changing workload
- Deals with ward incidents and accidents in accordance with hospital policy. Accurately record and report detail.
- Evaluation
- Contributes to nursing quality assurance by assisting in the identification of recurrent Nursing problems and co-operating in data collection
- Monitors the effectiveness of nursing and other interventions and documents these findings in the appropriate record
COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
- Documents according to policy and procedure
- Reports verbally and in writing pertinent patient care information to appropriate nursing/medical personnel
- Communicates appropriately with patients/relatives and colleagues and other members of the health care team
- Approaches interpersonal relationships in a manner that avoids antagonism, reduces conflict and prevents undue anxiety
- Recognises self-limitations and requests assistance
PROFESSIONAL:
- Supports the philosophy, objectives and goals of the nursing department and hospital
- Follows appropriate lines of authority by discussing issues firstly with Clinical Nurse Manager, then with Unit Nurse Manager and then with the Director of Nursing
- Demonstrates flexibility by assisting in other areas of the Hospital as needed
- Supports development of polices and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in relation the ward/unit with the CNM/DNM (Directorate Nurse Manager)
MANAGEMENT:
- Demonstrates ability to organise care for all patients within the ward/unit
- Uses time effectively
- Shows ability to delegate work to Staff Nurses, Student Nurses or other
- Uses discretion for decision making regarding patient care
- Displays initiative
- Liase with patient flow and CNMs on the movement and transfer of patients from the unit to the ward or other settings
- Reports on-going problems to CNM
EDUCATION:
- Demonstrates ability to teach and guide more Junior Staff/Students/Healthcare assistants
- Shows interest in Post Graduate Education/Self Development
- Will ensure that assigned mandatory training is complete and up to date
- Will complete local training, induction, and educational programmes to ensure that knowledge and practice are synergistic
