RN, Emergency Communications Center

Department Overview

Mission control serves as the central point for managing inpatient capacity for the OHSU Health system in real time. Mission Control team members monitor patient throughput and balance utilization across OHSU and its partners. The departments of patient placement, emergency communications, transfer center, administrator on duty and decedent affairs encompass OHSU Mission Control.

This position also comes with great benefits! Some highlights include:

• Comprehensive health care plans. Covered at 100% of the cost for full-time employees and 88% for dependents.
• $50K of term life insurance provided at no cost to the employee
• Two separate above market pension plans to choose from
• Vacation - 192 to 288 hours per year depending on length of service, prorated for part-time
• Holidays - up to 64 holiday hours per calendar year (employees accrue .0308 holiday hours for each hour paid – included in vacation accruals)
• Sick Leave - 96 hours per year, prorated for part-time
• Substantial public transportation discounts (Tri-met and C-Tran)
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Innovative Employee Assistance Program (EAP) including extensive wellness resources

The TCRNs provide patient-centric care through the triage of admission requests and the placement of patients into the OHSU Health System (Adventist Health, Hillsboro Medical Center, and OHSU main campus) to the right location at the right time with the right services. The TCRNs are responsible for triaging many different admission types into the OHSU system such as interhospital patient transfers, direct admissions, emergency department transfers, STEMI activations to OHSU partners, and placement of complex qua ternary patients at OHSU’s main campus.

The TCRNs are also responsible for monitoring the list of patients awaiting transfer into the OHSU system and escalating patient clinical conditions to the appropriate Mission Control and attending provider team members. TCRNs perform case management review of patients awaiting admission from the OHSU emergency department at varying hours. The TCRNs also answer and triage the internal rapid response team (RRT) dispatch line and the public Oregon POLST (Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Registry Request (OPR) line.

The TCRN works collaboratively with the Emergency Transport Coordinator (ETC) role to manage and coordinate interhospital transfer requests. Geographic knowledge of the state of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Region is valued to support accurate triage to the correct location with the right services. This position requires strong knowledge of medical diagnoses and the treatment and course of these conditions. Intense focus and concentration are required for multiple requests that necessitate timely action.

Previous experience in high-flow patient areas is strongly preferred. Hospital system-level knowledge of patient throughput, hospital functions, and communication is recommended.

The TCRN will also staff the Oregon Medical Coordination Center (OMCC). OMCC duties include but are not limited to; monitoring statewide capacity using the Oregon Capacity System Tile, receiving calls from other hospitals requesting assistance in placing patients at hospitals that fall outside of their primary referral patterns, locating hospitals within the state that can accommodate the patient, and connecting the referring and receiving hospitals to complete the transfer.

A specialty role within the TCRN daily work will also include interfacing with patients and their families within OHSU. These patients are eligible to transfer to another hospital within the OHSU system and to other hospitals that can meet the patient’s medical needs and may be closer to home.

• Interface with various Mission Control team members, management, and administration to assess facility occupancy and capabilities including service line availability across the OHSU Health System
• Interface with various roles in other hospitals to coordinate the transfer patients
• Interface with patients and their families in the hospital and in the Emergency Department to communicate plans to transfer out of OHSU to another hospital…