Professional Nurse Advocate Support Sessions
Overview
In 2021, NHS England launched a professional nurse advocate (PNA) scheme, to try and support the recovery of the nursing workforce in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
PNAs are qualified, practising nurses, trained to lead and support nurses in practice by delivering training and facilitating restorative clinical supervision.
All GPNs working in North Central London can now access confidential, restorative clinical supervision sessions delivered by a network of PNAs.
Restorative Supervision is designed to support the needs of professionals working with clinical caseloads and/or in roles which demand they be clear thinking and able to process information quickly and accurately in order to make decisions.
Restorative Clinical Supervision sessions are delivered by trained Professional Nurse Advocates.
Traditional vs restorative supervision
Traditional models of supervision tend to emphasise on the content of the work being undertaken rather than on the practitioner delivering the care. This often means that a managerial approach is taken through the use of checklists and targets for the supervisory space and the practitioner suspends their own autonomous decision making.
Restorative Supervision focuses on the practitioner and their own capacity to think and make decisions. It helps the practitioner reflect on their own contribution to the situations they find themselves faced with and aid clarity of thought. It contains elements of psychological techniques including listening, supporting and challenging the supervisee to improve their capacity to cope, especially in managing difficult and stressful situations. The model allows the practitioner to process their emotional reaction to their work events.
Benefits
Restorative Clinical Supervision (RCS) has been shown to:
Have a positive impact on the immediate wellbeing of staff
Staff feeling ‘valued’ by their employers for investing in them and their wellbeing
A significant reduction in stress
A significant reduction in burnout
Staff receiving RCS demonstrated an improvement in their compassion satisfaction- the pleasure one derives from doing their job.
Improve the retention of staff in the group receiving RCS
Over half the staff surveyed felt they functioned better as a result of receiving RCS
Reduce stress levels whilst maintaining compassion
Improve working relationships and team dynamics
Help staff to manage work/life balance more effectively
Increase enjoyment and satisfaction related to work
(Petit & Stephen 2015)
Source: Restorative Clinical Supervision (restorativesupervision.org.uk)
Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA) is a new role for nurses who have undergone a level 7 training programme that equips them to lead, support, advocate and deliver improvement to patient care and support the development, health, and wellbeing of nurses.
It provides them with the skills, competencies and confidence to lead programmes of improvement, fostering a culture of learning and development within their clinical settings, and to facilitate Restorative Clinical Supervision (RCS). To do that, they to deploy the A-EQUIP (Advocating & Educating for Quality Improvement) model of clinical supervision for registered nurses.
The support offered by PNAs contains elements of psychological support including listening, supporting and challenging the supervisee to improve their capacity to cope, especially in managing difficult and stressful situations.
Clinical support:
advocate for patients, reinforcing that every nurse’s role is to support patients and their families
in creating care plans collaboratively with patients and/or families in a challenging situation, such as supporting a patient to make safe choices based on the best available evidence, using the restorative function of the A-EQUIP model
demonstrate inspirational, motivational and visible leadership in the workplace
support change in clinical area(s)
role model promoting psychological safety and situational awareness in own practice.
Wellbeing support:
discuss any professional issues, including clinical incidents, team dynamics, stress, burnout, instances of bullying, career progression, interviews and quality initiatives, as well as personal issues
following a traumatic or stressful event, allow (or create) the opportunity for reflection to reduce stress and enable learning, limit compassion fatigue and improve confidence
portray an understanding of personal and professional resilience, developing this attitude in others.
Learning support:
to develop a nurse’s ideas and actions for quality improvement and service development
hold reflective discussions about revalidation and career development, preparation for appraisal
coach staff through reflection on incidents they may have experienced, with a focus on the system and processes.
Restorative Clinical Supervision is delivered in 121 confidential sessions by trained Professional Nurse Advocates.
In North Central London, we currently have one Professional Nurse Advocate- see bio below:
Lisa Smith
Lisa is the Practice Nurse Manger in a busy North London practice. She has been working for the Islington practice for the last 17 years. When she had her first son 12 years ago, she decided to relocate to live in Cumbria to be closer to family. She has since worked remotely for the practice and commutes to London monthly for few days. Over one year ago she was appointed as a PCN Lead Nurse and has thoroughly enjoyed this role which has given nurses within five practices a voice within the PCN.
She embarked on the Professional Nurse Advocate training in 2022 with the aim to enhance her supervision skills and to continue to support the nursing team that she leads. She is passionate about supporting, increasing training and leadership opportunities for nurses. She understands the current challenges and demands which nurses are facing and is looking forward to embedding the PNA role within NCL.
In her spare time, she enjoys running and has completed many half marathons for charities. Her ambition is to one day run the London Marathon. When she is not working or running, she is at home with her husband and two sons in the lovely Cumbrian countryside.
To request a Restorative Clinical Supervision session, please email nclicb.pna.traininghub@nhs.net
Please specify in your email if you'd like to request to speak to a specific PNA - Dee, Sam or Lisa.
Once you've made contact, you will be offered a meeting:
arranged at a mutually convenient time
in a private and confidential meeting place / online
you will also be able to mutually agree how long the meeting will last and agree ground rules for the session.
after the session, you will be asked to respond to an anonymous feedback survey - this is an essential element to help us evaluate our service and improve.
Please complete the evaluation once you've attended a Restorative Clinical Supervision session with one of the Professional Nurse Advocates. This should take max. 2 minutes.
Click to open the survey https://forms.office.com/e/Sms1qqcz72 or scan the QR code to open the survey:
What is the A-EQUIP model?
A-EQUIP (Advocating & Educating for Quality Improvement) is a model of clinical supervision made up of three distinct functions: restorative, personal action for quality improvement and education and development.
The model aims to support the nurse through a process of restorative clinical supervision, personal action for quality improvement and preparedness for professional revalidation.
It supports continuous improvement that builds personal and professional resilience, enhances quality of care and supports preparedness for appraisal and professional revalidation.
The ultimate aim of using the A-EQUIP model is that through staff empowerment and development, action to improve quality of care becomes an intrinsic part of everyone’s job, every day in all parts of the system.
Full overview of the Professional Nurse Advocate A-EQUIP model B0799-national-professional-nurse-advocate-implementation-guide-with-links.pdf (england.nhs.uk)
Read more about the Professional Nurse Advocate role and the PNA training programme.
The Professional Nurse Advocate (PNA) Training Programme is a virtual accredited Level 7 master’s clinical professional development training programme that will run for 10 days but can vary over weeks or months.
The criterion for the PNA training programme requires that you:
are a registered nurse
are in a patient facing role
are Band 5 or above
already hold an accredited Level 6 qualification (degree or degree equivalent/ top-up accredited Level 6 CPD course)
have practice manager/ lead nurse approval to be released
The training programme equips registered nurses with the skills and knowledge to support the mental health and wellbeing of fellow colleagues and improvement of patient care.
The training focuses on the four functions of the Advocating for Education and Quality and Improvement (A-Equip) Model.
The delivery and mode of academic assessment will vary dependent on the Higher Education Institute (HEI). Some academic assessments may include short essays, poster presentations and competency portfolios.
It is expected that as soon as you complete the PNA Training Programme, you will start to: support your fellow colleagues, facilitate restorative clinical supervision in practise, and lead and deliver quality improvement initiatives in response to the service demands and the ongoing changing patient requirements.
More information is available on the NHS website.
Contact
Contact Maria Powazka to enquire about the opportunity of training and working as a PNA in North Central London.