Registered Nurse - In Charge Night Shifts

Shifts: Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday nights - second week of roster

Resident care

• Liaise with relevant Residential care staff, medical, allied health, hospital and other specialist health practitioners to ensure residents receive high level clinical care.
• Coordinate daily administrative duties, including schedules, care assignments and resident care, including ensuring adequate staff are on shift. 
• Ensure regular direct care handovers from shift-to-shift for Registered Nurses, enrolled nurses and personal carers convey essential information, are concise and comprehensive, and that information is shared in a professional manner on a need-to-know basis, respecting resident confidentiality at all times.
• Responsible for ensuring individualised assessments for all new residents, including respite residents, are completed according to written guidelines/.
• Ensure individualised care plans for all residents are documented fully and updated according to written guidelines/checklists.
• Ensure all residents receive person-centred care appropriate to their individually assessed needs and according to client/family choices, in the least restrictive environment.
• Undertake, or supervise others to undertake, clinical care for individual residents as required, including complex wound care, pain management, behaviour management, end-of-life care and other clinical procedures as may be necessary from time-to-time.
• Oversee all aspects of medication management for residents including pharmacy liaison, drug checking, dangerous drugs storage and recording, medication administration, and reporting any adverse drug reactions.

Leadership

• Take responsibility for the shift leadership of a harmonious direct care team, demonstrating clear understanding of the human rights of residents and staff, and cultural sensitivity, and being sufficiently flexible to meet unforeseen circumstances, including provision of spontaneous positive experiences for residents.
• Demonstrate clear, unambiguous communication within the direct care team, with all other aged care staff, with residents, with family members and with others in contact with Cultura Residential face-to-face, via the telephone and electronically.
• Liaise with the Lifestyle Coordinator and lifestyle team members, Volunteer Coordinator and volunteers to facilitate clear and effective communication between direct care team members, lifestyle team members and volunteers to ensure resident care is co-ordinated and opportunities for residents are maximised.
• Work within relevant current legislation relating to Cultura Residential workplace (including but not being restricted to Commonwealth Aged Care Act 1997, Victorian Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981, Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004). 
• Supervise all enrolled nursing and personal care staff and ensure each one operates in Cultura’s workplace within their scope of practice and level of competence.
• Responsible for ensuring any incident and/or complaint, including a report that could be interpreted as elder abuse, is clearly documented and the appropriate authority notified either:
• on the shift the event occurs, 

or if reported later, 

• on the shift when the report is received.
• Initiate formal processes and procedures at times designated in Residential policies and procedures, to maximise health and safety of residents and staff, for example, in case of infection outbreak and/or heatwave, and in relation to occupational health and safety guidelines.
• Contribute to the on-going maintenance and upgrading of direct care staff skills and knowledge by role-modelling clinical competence and sensitive resident care.
• Identify any essential skill, knowledge and/or competency gaps in direct care team members, and in liaison with Residential Education team, provide/initiate on-the-job training and competency testing to address these gaps.
• Contribute to the formal performance management of direct care staff supervised.
• Work with all direct care staff to ensure residents and family members:
• have the opportunity to experience Residential Aged Care as a warm and welcoming home in which they can relax, and where they know their cultural beliefs and practices are respected and they are free from discrimination;
• have the confidence in Residential nursing and personal care staff to provide high quality clinical care, and
• will report to Cultura when there is a situation/event that is of concern or does not reflect the organisation’s intended high care and service standards.

Organisational

• Liaise with the Chief Executive Officer and/or General Manager Residential on any emergency, incident involving outside personnel or other out-of-the-ordinary occurrences that are actual/potential hazards to the quality of care/services Cultura is able to provide for residents.
• Take responsibility for calling in contractors to deal with utilities breakdowns including listed tradespeople, communications contractors etc.
• Ensure all messages regarding staff sickness are communicated accurately and in a timely manner, and that full shift complement for direct care for the next twenty-four (24) hours is ensured as far as is possible.
• Ensure all messages for other Cultura departments, including Cultura Community Services, are relayed according to set procedures and in a timely manner.
• Fulfil the role of ‘Chief Warden’ and, at the beginning of each shift, delegate an enrolled nurse as ‘Deputy Chief Warden’, and ensure that enrolled nurse is made aware of his/her ‘Deputy Chief Warden’ status as part of Residential Emergency Management Organisation.
• As ‘Chief Warden’ ensure any other Residential Aged Care staff present on-site after hours are informed of, and instructed in how to respond, any emergency situation that arises.
• Demonstrate active commitment to the development of Residential clinical and direct care management processes, including working with the General Manager Residential and Clinical Manager to effect smooth transition in planned changes affecting direct care staff within the organisation.

Essential

• Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing
• Current Registered Nurse with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (APRHA) with no restrictions on practice. 
• Current/recent experience in, and awareness of, contemporary issues in residential, including Commonwealth Aged Care Assessment, residential care, and the direction of the Commonwealth’s ‘Living Longer, Living Better’ aged care reform package.
• Have an understanding of the migrant experience, with empathy and sensitivity to the needs of elderly individuals and their families from different cultural backgrounds. 
• Have demonstrated ability to co-ordinate the care of residents, lead a staff team, and liaise effectively with medical practitioners, other health professionals and families. 
• Have demonstrated expertise in care assessment, planning and evaluation and supervision of staff providing individualised care. 
• Have demonstrated expertise in providing care for individuals with dementia.
• Have demonstrated expertise in providing palliative care for elderly individuals.
• Be computer literate – with basic keyboard and data entry skills, ability to access and use electronic communication and the internet, and ability to use computerized care planning software.

Desirable

• Post graduate qualifications relevant to Cultura Residental workplace (for example, in gerontological nursing, management, dementia care, palliative care, wound care, training and assessment)
• Understanding of the broad range of Commonwealth Aged Care funding options for home-based elders – including home care packages.
• Languages other than English will be highly regarded.