Registered Nurse Bed Coordinator, St. Luke's Center (Part Time Evenings)

St. Luke's is proud of the skills, experience and compassion of its employees. The employees of St. Luke's are our most valuable asset! Individually and together, our employees are dedicated to satisfying the mission of our organization which is an unwavering commitment to excellence as we care for the sick and injured; educate physicians, nurses and other health care providers; and improve access to care in the communities we serve, regardless of a patient's ability to pay for health care.

The RN Bed Coordinator will prioritize, triage, and coordinate patient flow activity including all inter/intra-facility transfers and bed placement for all campuses at the St. Luke’s University Health Network. Responsible to be the initial contact for all providers who wish to transfer a patient for a higher level of care. The RN will facilitate transfers to the most appropriate Network facility based on location, available specialties, and bed availability in conjunction with the accepting physician. The objective is to prevent all inappropriate transfers while facilitating all other placement in order to meet demands of Network capacity.

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Answers all calls into the call center in a timely fashion while demonstrating exceptional customer service and telephone etiquette, regardless of the intent of the caller.
•  Works efficiently out of Bed Planning and Transfer Center modules in the electronic medical records system, Epic.
• Effectively utilizes medical appropriateness criteria for all urgent and emergent transfers/admissions including review of patients chart to determine treatment plan, medical history, reason for admission, and special considerations for patient placement.
• Reviews patient insurance to determine appropriateness for transfer and communicates with other departments as necessary to facilitate insurance authorizations if needed.
• Initiates Case Management referrals when appropriate.
• Coordinates activities in the department and promotes cooperation to the staff to achieve department objectives and maintain good interdepartmental relations.
• Promotes and maintains harmonious and effective working relationships within the hospital.
• Utilizes Capacity Management Dashboard in Epic to determine overall census condition and bed availability.
• Utilizes appropriate critical thinking, triage and clinical skills to determine patient placement and prioritization of patient transfers.
• Coordinates placement of OR patients with PACU/ASC to minimize disruption to the OR schedule.
• Utilizes tools within Epic to proactively monitor beds for availability.
• Balances the coordination of placement of ED admissions, post-operative patients, transfers and direct admissions to be able to accommodate all bed placements while minimizing disruption to OR schedule and ED capacity.
• Assists referring physician in identifying an attending physician to accept the transfer patient and facilitates conferences to obtain patient acceptance.
• Facilitates report hand off from referring facility to accepting unit for patient transfers.
• Facilitates communication between referring and receiving physicians and nursing units.
• Triages and secures the most appropriate means of transportation, including ground or air units in collaboration with the sending physician and ETS Communication counterparts.
• Communicates with the Hospital Supervisor or Critical Care Coordinators for intervention when needed.
• Assists in orientation of new employees.
• Attends meetings as required; such as administrative meetings, committee and staff meetings and daily bed/staff planning meeting.
• Demonstrates a consistent level of effort and performance; strives to maintain a steady level of productivity.
• Demonstrates proper procedure and knowledge of regulations for registration.
• Communicates an orderly transfer of information with each shift change.
• Provides recommendations for process improvement, including potential actions to correct a problem.
• Maintains confidentiality in accordance with HIPAA standards of all materials handled within the Network/Entity as well as the proper release of information.
• Complies with Network and departmental policies regarding issues of employee, patient and environmental safety and follows appropriate reporting requirements.
• Maintains responsibility for own professional development through active participation in in-services and/or continuing education programs.

OTHER FUNCTIONS:

• Fosters effective, interpersonal communications with patients, visitors, physicians, nurses, and employees of St. Luke's Health Network in a courteous, professional, and friendly manner.
• Responsible for ongoing detailed knowledge of the hospital computer system as i