Clinical Bed Manager

About the role

The Clinical Bed Manager oversees all patient admissions, discharges, and transfer activities while monitoring capacity. This role facilitates continuous throughput of patients from various points of entry, including the Emergency Department, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Operating Room, direct admissions, and transfers from other healthcare facilities.

Responsibilities

• Communicate with physicians and nurses to support timely patient placement.
• Manage all bed resources, except those at YPH/Psych, to support inpatient demand.
• Triage clinical needs to ensure appropriate and timely bed assignment through collaboration with physician leadership and clinical management.
• Identify and resolve barriers in bed assignment processes to increase effective bed capacity.
• Document and report on timeliness of patient placement activities and issues of concern related to efficient throughput.
• Educate the clinical workforce on the use of the electronic patient placement system.
• Evaluate clinical needs associated with patient transfer activity and collaborate with relevant departments.
• Develop effective relationships with Environmental Services and Transport clinical management to support patient flow enhancements.
• Achieve seamless delivery of services by appropriately involving colleagues, physicians, nurses, and staff.
• Work alongside Patient Service Managers and Off Shift Executives to communicate clinical issues related to patient placement and flow.
• Achieve successful and consistent execution of YNHH policies and processes.
• Articulate the hospital vision and utilize resources to ensure staff commitment to hospital objectives.
• Provide leadership and accomplish objectives through innovation.
• Implement and monitor clinically and fiscally responsive hospital program philosophies, goals, and objectives to address specific issues and support throughput efforts.
• Formulate recommendations for programmatic changes or nursing unit localization based on trends related to patient placement, patient populations, and bed resource utilization.
• Ensure that all clinical services work in synergy within the hospital to support efficient delivery of care.
• Communicate and ensure adherence to practices and procedures that are consistent with institutional policies and strategies.
• Provide vision and leadership within the institution that builds upon a collaborative environment to support ongoing throughput efforts and improvements.
• Develop, implement, and monitor systems that trend shift census, acuity, and staffing to more effectively handle patient volume.
• In conjunction with leadership, establish systems to ensure effective utilization and availability of equipment and supplies to support patient throughput and safe patient care.
• Direct clinical management and Off Shift Executives to assist with clinical consultation related to patient needs.
• Triage clinical needs of patients related to bed availability to ensure appropriate resources are utilized.
• Collaborate with clinical management in identifying patient needs related to changes in clinical condition, emergent transfers, and trauma calls.
• Collaborate with senior leadership, OSA, and Administrator on call in regard to issues related to off shift activity and patient placement/bed availability.
• Ensure smooth functioning of the bed management process to reduce wait times and avoid unnecessary patient movements.
• Model customer service standards and demonstrate value for all people in the work environment.
• Collaborate with management to ensure customer relations standards reflecting excellence consistent with Hospital policy for internal/external customers are appropriately met.
• Maintain confidentiality of appropriate patients, staff, and management data.
• Responsible for all patient placement functions to inpatient and observation beds across seven acute care hospitals.
• Direct assignments of all admissions, transfers, and Y access requests using EPIC to assure timely and accurate patient placement.
• Follow guidelines related to assignment of teams and attending physicians at time of admission.

Qualifications

• Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing required. Masters preferred.
• Current CT RN Nursing license required.
• A minimum of five years experience in a clinical environment, preferably intensive care/emergency department nursing with a minimum of three years demonstrated leadership/supervisory/management experience required.
• Demonstrated ability to direct and triage in a highly fluid dynamic operational environment.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and assess and triage clinical critical patient needs.
• Excellent prioritization and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to implement, support, and effectively monitor change required.
• Ability to collaborate with all layers of the management/administrative team.
• Intermediate to advanced skills in Microsoft Office applications.