Job Description

Nurse Practitioner

CARE AND BE CARED FOR – THIS IS YOUR HOME

Are you an experienced Nurse Practitioner seeking a rewarding career that cares for others, in a professional practice that cares for you? You’re looking in the right place.

What will you do?

Reporting to the Manager, Patient Services, as an integrated member of the Palliative Care Team, the Nurse Practitioner (NP) supports the Ontario Health atHome Mississauga Halton Palliative Program and the Ontario Health atHome Mississauga Palliative Care Regional Programing to ensure high quality, patient-centered hospice palliative care across all care settings in the Mississauga Halton region. The NP provides support to the Palliative Care Team and specialist providers to address palliative care needs and increase capacity within the region to provide palliative and end of life care in the community. Critical to the NP role is the provision of direct nursing services to support patients with palliative needs and their families. The NP broad scope practice will support seamless integration of hospice palliative care at the primary, secondary and tertiary care level; serving as clinician, educator, collaborator and advocate. At the primary level, the incumbent works as an integral member of the Palliative Care Team, assisting in building team capacity to provide care and clinical management; at the secondary level, engaging in shared care with primary and specialist providers, to address more complex palliative care needs; and at the tertiary level facilitating access to and seamless transition to and from tertiary services.

Working collaboratively across the health care system, the NP provides expert direct clinical palliative care and leadership to support seamless, integrated care delivery. In this leadership role, the NP will work in all domains consistent with advanced practice nursing (leadership, clinical care, consultation/collaboration, facilitation and research). Within this scope, the NP will provide home/office/hospital visits and telephone and face-to-face consultation, and crisis response, The NP is also responsible for education, knowledge transfer and best practice implementation, mentorship and professional development, through coaching inter-professional teams involved in the circle of support.

The role includes stakeholder engagement, participation in local, regional and provincial committees and a leadership role to implement improvements in Ontario Health atHome Mississauga Halton and within the Mississauga Halton Palliative Care Network. The NP supports an organizational culture that promotes professional growth and continuous learning, program development and evaluation, and effective inter-professional teams.

Expert Clinical Practice

• Provides palliative and end-of-life direct care to patients within the scope of practice, supporting patient/caregiver and their circle of care to receive community-based care as long as possible and support patient death in place of choice
• As part of a team of NPs, provides expert clinical care to complex palliative patients and expert clinical advice to the inter-professional team, including for example, primary care physicians, specialists, care coordinators, and community nurses on the management of pain and symptoms, psychosocial support and therapeutic interventions
• Participates in shared care roles with the primary care team as well as specialists
• Ensures rapid response capacity
• Provides advanced care planning; develop goals of care and/or initiate end of life conversations
• Responsible for home/office/hospital visits to complex palliative patients and their families for the purpose of completing comprehensive clinical assessments and building capacity within the primary team
• Contributes to the development of comprehensive shared care plans in consultation with Care Coordinators, service providers, primary care physicians and others
• Participates in patient rounds and case conferences with palliative care teams in hospital(s) to identify complex palliative needs and support safe and successful transitioning back to the community/home; prioritizes responsibility to ensure crisis management/urgent needs are supported
• Adopts regional and provincial targets as performance goals and measures
• Supports Most Responsible Practitioner (Family Physician/Palliative Physician/Other) to ensure continuity of medical/clinical care for individuals with complex palliative needs across primary, acute, community and specialized palliative care sectors in relation to coordinated management approaches, information exchange and relationships with the patient and family
• Identifies complex needs that may require tertiary intervention
• Identifies complex needs that may require tertiary intervention and takes appropriate action
• Provides evening support to the inter-professional and primary care team for the purposes of assistance with problem solving and decision-making and telephone or face to face visits as required

Leadership

• Collaborates with Ontario Health atHome Mississauga Halton administration to work towards provincial goals of “death in place of choice” and building organizational and regional capacity to care for patients within the system of home and community care
• Assists in the development of palliative care program policies and procedures including development of content for education and orientation materials
• Advocates for individuals, families for health system policies
• Identifies Ontario Health atHome Mississauga Halton and regional learning needs and finds/develops programs/resources to meet those needs in collaboration with Learning & Organizational Development teams where applicable
• Mentors and coaches nursing colleagues, other team members in the circle of care and students
• Advocates for and promotes the importance of access to hospice palliative care
• Contributes to and advocates for an organizational culture that promotes professional growth, continuous learning and collaborative practice
• Identifies gaps in the palliative care system and develops partnerships to facilitate and manage change
• Advises patients, colleagues, the community, health care institutions and policy makers on issues related to hospice palliative care nursing and health care
• Participates in local, provincial, national palliative care organizations and initiatives; and professional nursing organizations

What must you have?

• Current registration with the College of Nurses of Ontario in the Extended Class
• Nurse Practitioner Program with a BScN (Masters level degree in Nursing preferred)
• Canadian Nursing Association Certification in Hospice Palliative Care or relevant speciality certification an asset
• Minimum of three (3) to five (5) years’ experience in Palliative Care Nursing, preferably in a community setting
• Demonstrated experience with proven team building abilities and experience in advancing the clinical practice of multiple health disciplines
• Demonstrated advanced knowledge/experience in consultation and ethical decision-making
• Demonstrated use of theory and evidence to advance clinical practice and outcomes
• Working knowledge of community resources and roles of health care professionals
• Knowledge of the health care delivery system
• Knowledge of direct care / care coordination models used in community health care organizations
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, assessment, problem-solving, and decision-making skills
• Effective time management, prioritization and organizational skills, with the ability to work independently and co-operatively in a busy multidisciplinary environment
• Established ability to accurately complete required documentation, reports and forms
• A valid driver’s license and access to a reliable vehicle
• Proficiency in a Windows environment
• We have a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. As a condition of employment, all employees are required to submit proof of COVID-19 vaccination status prior to start date

What would give you the edge?

• Specialized education in palliative pain and symptom management
• Palliative / End of Life Care experience
• Awareness of Medical Assistance in Dying Legislation
• Complex Chronic Disease Management and Psychogeriatric care experience
• Advanced assessment skills and sound knowledge of clinical therapeutics
• Demonstrated clinical leadership and collaborative practice with all care providers
• Ability to speak French or another second language

What do we offer?

We know wellness is supported with work-life balance. In an inclusive culture committed to support your passion for continuous learning, growth and innovation, we offer: ​

• Attractive comprehensive compensation packages and benefits​
• Valuable development opportunities​
• Membership in a world class defined benefit pension plan​
• Salary Range - $57.89 to $67.36 per hour

Who we are?

We are Ontario Health atHome, ready to serve every person in Ontario We partner with patients and caregivers, primary care providers, hospitals, long-term care and retirement homes, service providers and Ontario Health Teams, to deliver responsive, accessible, integrated, patient-centered care.

Why join us?

If you’re interested in driving excellence in care and service delivery, and seeking an unparalleled opportunity to lead and learn, partner and connect, care and be cared for, this is your home.

Equity, Inclusion, Diversity and Anti-Racism Commitment

Ontario Health atHome is committed to a culture of equity, inclusion, diversity and anti-racism. We are committed to attracting, engaging and developing a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We welcome and encourage applications from all qualified applicants. Accommodations for persons with disabilities required during the recruitment process are available upon request.

We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.