Advanced practice

This section of the website contains the Advanced practice guidelines and also the training courses link that NHIVNA is currently developing with STIF, plus guidelines for who can be named clinical trainer.


Advanced Nursing practice in HIV care

Guidelines for nurses, doctors, service providers and commissioners

Foreword from BHIVA and NHIVNA

People living with HIV deserve excellent nursing care. HIV nursing has seen many changes over the past twenty years and the introduction of advanced nursing practice has greatly and positively impacted people’s quality of life and their outcomes. The financial pressures in the NHS, changes to nursing in general and changes to the recent commissioning landscape have all had significant consequences across all diseases and all pathways.

Therefore, at this difficult time we congratulate the National HIV Nurses Association for bringing together in one place a set of guidelines demonstrating the evidence base and requirements for advanced nursing practice in order to safeguard HIV nursing care and to ensure that people living with HIV are placed at the heart of all that we do.

The guidelines detail four key elements; the core components for advanced nursing practice, competencies and educational requirements, how to commission and implement advanced nursing practice roles and the different models of HIV nursing care. The guidelines are written for everyone involved in delivering and commissioning care for people living with HIV.

We would like to thank the working group for bringing this work to fruition. We hope nurses working in HIV care use this document as a tool to support themselves on an exciting journey in HIV nursing. We hope commissioners and service providers use this to ensure that comprehensive long-term succession planning is carried out and then implemented. It is critical that we have nurses, supported at all levels, working to improve outcomes for people living with HIV as part of the wider multidisciplinary team.

These guidelines are unique and should be regarded as not only a first in HIV nursing, but a first in the nursing profession. Congratulations.

Download Advanced Nursing practice in HIV care: Guidelines for nurses, doctors, service providers and commissioners

Core and advanced competency training and assessment packages

NHIVNA has worked in partnership with the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) educational arm and the Sexually Transmitted Infections Foundation (STIF) in order to create core/advanced competency training and work based assessment programmes for nurses working in HIV.

National training and assessment packages

  1. The training is building on the NHIVNA competencies and provides a robust and consistent framework for assessment.

  2. The training utilises the existing structures from BASHH STIF assessments which many nurses and doctors are familiar with.

  3. The training will be a national competency passport for nurses moving from one clinic to another.

Please click here for more information on the course and how to book.

   

Information on who can be a named clinical trainers

Assessment of competency in practice should be undertaken by a clinical (doctor/nurse) who has an in depth understanding of the components of the core/advanced competency training and assessment packages.

  • More information on who can be a named clinical trainer to follow.
  • To secure a place on the train the trainer course to be come a named clinical trainer, please contact NHIVNA.

The ANCHIV study

To find out more about the results of the largest and most comprehensive study of the contribution of nurses in advanced practice roles to the delivery of HIV services in England, please download the report below.

An examination of the contribution of specialist nursing to HIV service delivery: A short report

Additional information from the RCN on credentialing

Credentialing is a formal process to recognise nurses who are practising at an advanced level. See RCN webpage for further information. https://www.rcn.org.uk/professional-development/professional-services/credentialing

The credentialing process will involve an initial fee of £275 for 3 years membership which will include access to annual conference which I think is good value for money and an excellent opportunity to network and share best practice.

If you are interested, please request for the application pack from this site: https://www.rcn.org.uk/professional-development/professional-services/credentialing


Download Advanced Practice, Regulation & Credentialing (PDF)

Download Advanced Practice, Regulation & Credentialing (PPT)