L Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner

The value of the nursing contribution as a distinct profession must be safeguarded and articulated in the development of new services led by advanced nurse practitioners, complementing rather than replacing current services (NMBI 2017, p.9).

The overall purpose of the post is to provide safe, timely, evidence-based nurse-led care to patients at an advanced nursing level. This involves undertaking and documenting a complete episode of patient care (assess, diagnose, plan, treat and discharge patients) according to collaboratively agreed protocols and scope of practice in the clinical setting; demonstrating advanced clinical and theoretical knowledge, critical thinking, clinical leadership and decision-making skills.

The advanced practice role demonstrates a high degree of knowledge, skill and experience that is applied within the nurse-patient/client relationship to achieve optimal outcomes through critical analysis, problem solving and accurate decision-making (NMBI, 2017). Central to this is the provision of quality care, a safe environment and processes for patients by the use of evidence-based clinical guidelines that address patient expectations, promote wellness and evaluate care given.

The RANP will provide clinical leadership and professional scholarship to develop nursing practice and health policy at the local, regional and national levels.

The RANP will contribute to nursing research to shape and advance nursing practice, education and health care policy at local, national and international levels.

The RANP (Diabetes) has a role in the ongoing development of the ambulatory clinics (acute hospital) for adults requiring specialist diabetes services.

The post requires an RANP (Diabetes) with a scope of practice that represents the diverse inpatient population of the hospital, reflecting diabetes care across adult age groups.