The Professional nurse advocate (PNA) checklist forms part of the NHS England national PNA implementation guidance. It summarises the duties a trained PNA should discharge in their role.

To support healthcare colleagues

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.

Promoting the PNA role:

• support aspirant PNAs and PNAs in training, including by providing support and supervision
• collate data on the effectiveness of restorative clinical supervision (RCS) for staff, and the benefit of the PNA role.

Scheduling meetings with healthcare staff:

• arrange any individual meetings at a mutually convenient time
• identify a private and confidential meeting place
• mutually agree how long the RCS/meeting will last
• agree ground rules for the session and document these
• retain and confidentially store any notes taken at the meeting.

Personal, professional development:

• participate in and lead on quality improvement programmes
• engage in booster sessions following PNA training.