Nurse Shift Coordinator Supplemental, PRN, Rotating Shift

The Shift Coordinator serves as the on-site shift resource for the Medical Center 24 hours/7days per week. The Shift Coordinator collaborates, coordinates, and communicates with administration, physicians, nurse management, staff, patients and support services and external agencies to facilitate the delivery of quality patient care. In collaboration with nurse managers, the Shift Coordinator assumes administrative responsibility for the Department of Nursing for assigned shift.

Serves as a liaison between Maryland Access Center (MAC) and nurse manager and assists unit personnel in problem solving, interpretation of institutional policies and procedures, and coordination of patient care services.

Shift: Rotating, 7:30am-8pm or 7:30pm-8am. PRN as needed

Responsibilities and Tasks

• Maintains and communicates accurate information regarding availability and type of patient beds and services within the hospital to support patient placement. Plans and coordinates patient and bed assignments with the MAC for the Emergency Department, Procedural Areas, and all access points in collaboration with requisite disciplines and providers within the organization.
• Promotes the mission, vision, and values of the organization. Interprets and enforces hospital and nursing policies, practices and procedures with staff, patients, the public and other members of the healthcare team in a consistent and equitable manner.
• Assess patient care requirements on each unit/area.
• Incorporates unit rounds into daily activities
• As the primary resource for nursing personnel, responds appropriately to clinical issues; guides and directs staff according to nursing standards and practice.
• Assess the acuity of care required by patients and communicates changes in patient condition or unusual events to the oncoming Shift Coordinator.
• Coordinates staff utilization by assisting the charge nurse when necessary in identifying resources to meet the unit’s needs.
• Develop and implement staffing strategy for shift based on patient acuity, patient census and available staff; based upon information obtained regarding staffing needs from charge nurses on units.
• Collaborates with all appropriate Coordinators (i.e. Trauma Coordinator, Neuro Care Coordinator) and Supplemental Staffing to assign available staff to inpatient units.
• Assists MAC with patient flow issues and works with clinical leadership to ensure safe staffing on patient care units. Coordinate local patient flow and bed access. Monitors and evaluates patient flow and patient placement considering financial and regulatory issues.
• Responds to crises and emergency situations (RRT, Code Blue) and assists as necessary.
• Assists in placement and transport of acutely ill patients to ensure patient safety and coverage.
• Report significant hospital events to the hospital administrator-on-call.
• Identifies and provides for specialized care needs of post arrest patients until planned transfer to the appropriate critical care unit is complete. Oversees the interim management of patients requiring specialized care but who are not in intensive care units.
• Utilizes knowledge of legal principles that affect the provision of nursing care and educates nursing staff of those principles related to consent, blood administration, patient elopement, discharge against medical advice and other such issues.
• Collaborates with hospital and physician leadership to define, reduce and eliminate barriers within the system which may impede patient flow.
• Negotiates with physicians related to patient placement
• Works within the critical care model
• Negotiates off service patient placement with physicians, staff and managers
• Works collaboratively with Maryland Access Center physician leaders and requisite physician leaders to resolve bed management issues
• Communicates a rationale for placement decisions
• Ensures smooth functioning of the bed management process to reduce wait times and avoid unnecessary movement of patients.
• Makes timely bed assignment
• Triages/prioritizes admissions from multiple sites, i.e., community referral, Express Care, ED, etc., and internal transfers
• Manages complex decisions related to patient placement.
• Match…