MANAGER-NURSING SUPPORT SERVICES

POSITION SUMMARY:

Assists Nursing Leadership in the ongoing development of a management support system that ensures the optimum blend of competent staff essential for the efficient movement of patients through the health care system. Directs and monitors bed utilization throughout the Hospital to ensure optimal patient throughput.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Leadership: Provides overall direction for and coordination of staffing office operations in concert with Hospital vision, mission, goals and department-specific goals.

• Promotes and models a professional image that reflects support of organizational, Hospital and department philosophy.
• Promotes team spirit in the department and Hospital; demonstrates a positive attitude and works collaboratively with all members of the health care team.
• Develops unit goals and evaluates outcomes with staff collaboration.
• Serves as contact with all vendors/agencies that are contracted by the Hospital to work as temporary staff within the Department of Nursing.
• Identifies and problem-solves patient flow backups that delay admission.
• Communicates a sense of urgency throughout the Hospital during yellow, red and blue alerts, as well as during surge capacity times.

Coordination: Organizes activities within assigned areas, insuring availability of appropriate material and personnel resources in a cost-effective manner.

• Effectively communicates bed status/assignment with charge nurses and admitting to facilitate patient throughput.
• Collaborates with Pre-Surgical Testing and Admitting to facilitate obtaining orders, appropriate lab tests, etc.
• Serves as a dedicated contact for admitting physicians.
• Monitors surgical schedule to assess expected and unexpected admission requests. Communicates with physicians to plan and facilitate intra-hospital admission transfers from other facilities.
• Ensures the generation of accurate reports from manual and automated management systems, in a timely manner, that keeps staff, managers and administration apprised of resource utilization.

Human Resources: Assures that nursing personnel function within standards and expectations.

• Holds staff accountable for achieving unit objectives and divisional standards.
• Is proactive in preventing employee relations problems and addresses issues promptly by developing a course of action that follows HR policies.
• Completes performance evaluations timely and accurately, setting reasonable and achievable goals for staffing office personnel.

Quality Control: Assesses, recommends, implements, evaluates and revises standards, policies, procedures and practice to assure that all customers are provided the care/service dictated by their individual needs.

• Develops and maintains collaborative relationships with medical staff and other departments to enhance quality and improve service.
• Ensures a safe environment in collaboration with staff by following and enforcing safety and infection control practices and procedures.
• Promotes interdisciplinary cooperation by representing the Department of Nursing positively, on multi-disciplinary committees.
• Ensures current and appropriate records of agency competencies, licenses, etc.

Clinical Practice: Contributes to the development/revision of policy, procedure and standards that guide and support the provision of services.

• Applies knowledge of current regulatory standards governing patient care when rounding and advising staff.
• Rounds on all units to gather real-time census information and expedites admissions, internal transfers and discharges.
• Receives and provides report to the Administrative Nursing Coordinators at change of shift to ensure continuity of service and identify any patient/family/staff concerns.
• Monitors inpatient bed usage and works with Admitting for patient placement that ensures competent care and maximized productivity.

Fiscal Management: Manages department to assure that resources are provided in accordance with patient needs, established standards of care and within fiscal guidelines.

• Verifies local and travel agency invoices for payment. Coordinates with agency to investigate and resolve billing errors or discrepancies in a timely fashion.
• Ensures accurate Nursing Department payroll is submitted in accordance with Finance department timeframes.
• Identifies and analyzes budget variance and other management information and formulates corrective action plan immediately.
• Assists Director of Nursing to develop financial projections, prepare and manage department budget to ensure optimum financial performance.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

• Basic professional knowledge; equivalent to a Bachelor's degree; working knowledge of theory and practice within a specialized field
• Bachelor's degree in Nursing (BSN) required
• 3-5 years of experience
• Maryland Registered Nurse License (RN)