Job summary
Employer heading
Senior Respiratory Physiologist
NHS AfC: Band 6
Patent and staff experience is important to us and these are the behaviours we live by:
- Putting patients first
- Aiming to get it right
- Recognising that everybody counts
- Doing everything openly and honestly
Job overview
- To support the provision and delivery of a comprehensive lung function measurement service and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) service for patients at the James Paget Hospital.
- To support the management and teaching of junior staff members.
- To provide specialist advice on technical respiratory procedures.
Main duties of the job
1. To be responsible for the calibration of equipment and continual quality control of measurements.
2. To obtain accurate and clinically valuable measures at rest and during simple exercise tests of a patient’s lung function.
3. To vet all lung function referrals coming into the department
4. To assess and implement new tests as appropriate.
5. To undertake any new procedures that may be adopted in the future within competencies.
6. To evaluate new equipment and methods including trying new patterns of work, as appropriate, in order to meet the increasing demands on the service.
7. To be responsible for appointing urgent patients without delay and at their convenience, scheduling and prioritising work as appropriate.
8. To record workload data via iPM and/or spreadsheets and assist with service auditing.
9. Delegated signatory for maintaining equipment consumables for the OSA Service and technical respiratory service.
10. To share responsibility for the diagnostic aspect of the Obstructive Sleep Apnoea service.
11. To share responsibility for the therapeutic aspect of the OSA Service with colleagues.
12. To represent the Sleep and Lung Function Service to other departments and interdepartmental projects and groups as required.
13. Provide teaching sessions to medical students within the trust.
14. To help support the delivery of the community diagnostic centre.
Working for our organisation
We want to attract the best and brightest people to work with us and that means we will look after you from the moment you apply for a role at the Trust and throughout your career with us. Our staff are central to everything we do, and we believe that investing in you is crucial if we want to enable you to reach your full potential.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Clinical
1. To lead, instruct and coach patients in the required techniques to obtain full co-operation and maximum effort in performing lung function, by demonstrating the same physical effort and enthusiasm in order to obtain reproducible and meaningful results.
2. To measure static lung volumes by body plethysmography, and nitrogen washout.
3. To measure dynamic lung volumes by volume time spirometry and flow-volume loop.
4. To assess bronchodilator response with short-acting and long-acting drugs.
5. To undertake gas exchange studies such as measurement of transfer factor for carbon monoxide by the single breath method.
6. To be responsible for the investigation of respiratory muscle function defects by postural spirometry and maximal inspiratory and expiratory mouth pressures.
7. To measure exercise limitation by the 6-minute walk with oximetry.
8. To measure fractional exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO)
9. To perform bronchial provocation measurements with inhaled mannitol or other agents as per locally agreed protocols.
10. To be responsible for the assessment of hypoxic challenge test (Flight Assessments)
11. To be involved with the assistance cardiopulmonary exercise service.
12. To undertake spot pulse oximetry measurements where appropriate.
13. To undertaken overnight pulse oximetry and LTOT assessments as required.
14. To undertake Capillary Blood Gas measurements in accordance with locally agreed standard operating procedures.
15. To fully implement community diagnostic centre diagnostic procedures, as per locally agreed patient pathways.
16. To be responsible for the investigation of sleep disordered breathing by domiciliary oximetry and respiratory polygraphy sleep studies.
17. To initiate continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy in suitable patients, as directed by Consultant Physicians.
18. To provide clinical support for patients established on CPAP therapy (e.g. assessing equipment and interface functionality, monitoring progress and efficacy during follow up reviews).
Education, Training and Development
1. Act as an effective role model at all times.
2. Support the Chief Respiratory Physiologists in developing and delivering a training programme for student clinical physiologists, associate practitioners, and other staff groups as required
3. Facilitate a good learning environment. Monitor the progress and competency of student clinical physiologists and associate practitioners as required.
4. Provide training for other health care professionals e.g. training of nursing or medical staff in lung function techniques and interpretation of results, especially Spirometry.
5. To be pro-active in awareness of current issues/research, updating colleagues as appropriate.
6. Identify and subject to funding attend relevant courses as part of your personal development plan and that of others.
7. Undertake on-going training in respiratory investigations, reporting, and therapies.
8. Applications are invited from newly qualified practitioners who have completed or are in the process of completing relevant professional examinations relevant to the job post.
9. Applicants who do not meet full person specification requirements will be considered for 12 month Annex Band 6 post, subject to completing further professional ARTP certifications.
Person specification
Skills
Essential criteria
- Experience in either sleep or lung function with specialist knowledge
- 2+ years experience in the respiratory field
- Ability to perform full lung function tests eg spirometry, gas diffusion, static lung volumes and reversibility
Desirable criteria
- Ability to competently perform specialised lung function tests eg. Mannitol bronchial challenge test, hypoxic challenge test, CPET, ear lobe CBG, mouth pressures
- Observed overnight sleep studies and has an understanding of how to report them
- Observed CPAP clinic and has and understanding of how to conduct set up and follow up reviews of therapy
Skills
Essential criteria
- Experience of performing, issuing or reporting overnight sleep studies
Skills
Essential criteria
- Experience of CPAP issue and follow up reviews
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Matthew Scott
- Job title
- Chief Respiratory Physiologist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 0149345 2777
- Additional information
Alternative contact:
Kim Wilkins - Chief Respiratory Physiologist
0149345 2777
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