Description

JOB PURPOSE:
The Emergency Department (ED) Patient Flow Coordinator position is responsible for the overall movement of patients through the ED in a safe and efficient manner. This position will coordinate all patient care activities and be a liaison with the ED medical staff to ensure that care can be delivered in an efficient and safe manner. The Patient Flow Coordinator appropriately delegates the workload and is a role model for teamwork, leadership and professionalism in the ED.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
PATIENT FLOW
1. Has the authority to direct all of the team members regarding prioritization and patient flow.
2. Becomes a single point person for the MDs, minimizing their interruptions and facilitating communication with all other providers.
3. Coordinates with Mission Control role on the proper placement of patients within the department
4. Monitors room availability and turnover.
5. Assures that orders, collections, and procedures are coordinated.
6. Notifies the MD and other providers when a patient is ready for a disposition.
7. Is a liaison with other departments and checks on delays in all sub-processes, including lab, imaging, pharmacy and consults.
8. Coordinates admission and transfers.
9. Monitors tracking board, oversees use of tracking board by caregivers and keeps data current.
10. Maintains the ED Pods and encourages members of the pods to abide by pod guidelines.
11. Sets priorities for patient placement by setting priorities for ED admits, obtaining patient arrival time for direct admits and communicating with Bed Control on on-going bases as unit situation changes.
12. Serves as a resource for float staff working in the ED.
13. Assist with triaging and prioritizing incoming EMS patients
STAFFING
14. Assures proper placement of patients in units by attending Bed Court with accurate information include current admits in ED, potential admissions, staffing needs/status, and number of holding patients.
15. Reassigns staff patients to maintain balance within pods and ensure continuity of care.
16. Provides clinical care as needed, according to departmental protocol.
17. Implements ED protocols for increased patient census such as “Diversion” or “Saturation”.
18. In partnership with Team Lead (TL) role, assigns lunches to staff members in the ED to ensure that staff has time to eat

QUALITY MANAGEMENT
19. Reports status of patient processes and team performance to QA/ED Committee and contribute to problem resolution and modification of processes as necessary.
20. Is accountable for defined quality measures including patient wait times in the ED.
21. Hold staff nurses and MDs accountable for defined quality measures for patient wait times.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES
• Demonstrated appropriate clinical knowledge to evaluate and prioritize patient flow issues.
• Demonstrated excellent leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills, ability to set priorities, works and a team member and delegation abilities.
• Ability to maintain composure under pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills necessary to interact, motivate, and communicate with a wide range of staff and hospital personnel in a professional manner; guest relation's skills must be strong, genuine, and noticeable.
• Knowledgeable in assessment, planning, treatment, and evaluation of patients experiencing stroke or stroke-like symptoms
• Provides appropriate stroke related education and Stroke Education Booklet to patients and/ or family/ caregiver with discussion on risk factor reduction
• Knowledgeable in stroke performance measures and relationship to patient outcomes
• Communicates with the multidisciplinary team and assists with coordination of care of the stroke / TIA patient
• Completes required 4 hours of stroke related education annually and demonstrates competency with performing the MEND exam
• Performs quick triage assessment, incorporating age specific or cultural phenomena, upon arrival
• Incorporates relevant cues, and eliminates non relevant cues, when analyzing assessment data
• Quickly and accurately establishes triage acuity based upon assessment data