 OPEN FOR CONSULTATION
NOrF and the Critical Care Network National Leads (CC3N) have gathered a wide group of key stakeholders to develop a practice focused competency framework for registered nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) who care for level 1 patients in enhanced care areas. These will complement the existing Steps 1, 2 and 3 National Competency Frameworks for Adult Critical Care Nurses The suite of multi-professional competencies has been designed to support safe, compassionate and effective care and treatment to Level 1 patients within the acute provider organisation. They are intended to compliment Trusts existing educational programmes and competency based training packages, to provide an evidenced based framework to assess the performance of registered nurses and AHP's with regular exposure to the Level 1 patient. Healthcare teams in hospitals have been recognising the vulnerability of the deteriorating patient in acute care for nearly 20 years. UK national organisations such as National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD), National Patient Safety Association (NPSA) and National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) have recognised this in recent publications. As a result, there has been considerable clinical interest and service innovation in optimising the recognition and management of the deteriorating and acutely ill ward patient. Following the publication of Comprehensive Critical Care (DOH 2000), the Intensive Care Society (ICS) published definitions of levels of care in 2002 to better understand the needs of acutely ill and critical patients; these definitions were later updated in 2009 and are used widely in practice to assess competence of the healthcare team. The group has worked in collaboration with other relevant professional bodies such as RCN, BACCN, UKCCNA, ICS, ICUsteps and SAM UK. The focus of the competency framework is to:
We are now circulating the document widely for consultation with a view to publication in Spring 2018.
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