Senior Physiotherapist - Health Care of Elderly
Clinical: To be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of own work, including the management of patients in your care. To be responsible for maintaining accurate and comprehensive patient treatment records in line with Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) standards and local/Trust policy. To communicate appropriately with other disciplines (this might include meetings, report and letter writing). To undertake a comprehensive assessment of patients, including those with diverse or complex presentations/multi-pathologies; use advanced clinical reasoning skills and manual assessment techniques to provide an accurate clinical diagnosis of their condition.
Formulate and deliver an individual physiotherapy treatment programme based on a sound knowledge of evidence-based practice and treatment options using clinical assessment, reasoning skills, and knowledge of treatment skills (e.g., specialist neurological or respiratory techniques, manual physiotherapy techniques, patient education, and other alternative options).
To take delegated responsibility from the Band 7 physiotherapist for managing patients with particular conditions and be responsible for providing specialist physiotherapy assessment and treatment plans for patients with these conditions. Formulate accurate prognoses and recommend the best course of intervention, developing comprehensive management plans.
Assess patient understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid informed consent, which must be documented, and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment. To comply with local confidentiality policies, child protection, and vulnerable adult procedures.
Use an extensive range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to communicate effectively with patients/carers; to motivate, gain cooperation, and progress rehabilitation and treatment programmes. This includes patients who may have difficulties in understanding or communicating (e.g., patients who are dysphasic, deaf, blind, or unable to accept diagnosis or realistic expectations).
Evaluate patient progress, reassess, and alter treatment programmes if required. To manage clinical risk within own patient caseload and report incidents and near misses.
Work within trust clinical guidelines and CSP guidelines, maintaining a good working knowledge of national and local standards, and monitor own and others' quality of practice as appropriate. Rarely, when working in the community and domiciliary settings, work as a lone practitioner with telephone support from a senior physiotherapist if required.
Be an active member of the respiratory evening and weekend on-call rota and medical/surgical/cardiothoracic and critical care seven-day services. Ensure competencies are maintained. When working on the emergency duty rota, undertake assessment and treatment of acutely ill patients with respiratory/orthopaedic/neuro problems, who may have complex presentations, and maintain associated records as an autonomous practitioner.
Provide advice to medical and nursing staff and other multidisciplinary team members regarding patients' respiratory/major trauma orthopaedic/neuro functions and their management.
Train, clinically supervise, and perform management of more junior staff, technical instructors, assistants, and students, with assistance from more senior physiotherapy team members. This includes formal appraisal documentation.
Represent physiotherapy service and/or individual patients at multidisciplinary team meetings to ensure delivery of a coordinated multidisciplinary service, discussing patient care, progress, and discharge planning.
Be responsible for the safe and competent use of all electrotherapy equipment, gym equipment, and patient appliances and aids by patients. Ensure that junior staff/assistants attain competency prior to use.
Maintain own competency to practice through CPD activities and keep a portfolio reflecting personal development. Participate actively in in-service training, tutorials, external courses, and peer review.
Participate in staff appraisal schemes and comply with personal development programmes to meet required knowledge and competencies. Collect data for service audit and research projects as directed.
Organise and plan own caseload to meet service and patient priorities, readjusting plans as situations change. Perform any other duties deemed appropriate by the physiotherapy line manager.
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