General Summary

• Serves as senior administrative leader, role model, change agent, and operational coordinator of hospital activities. Supervises the coordination and delivery of care consistent with the mission and values of University of Maryland Rehabilitation & Orthopaedic Institute within scope of practice, professional and regulatory standards. Consistently expresses and demonstrates respect, compassion and courtesy for patients, family/visitors, and team members. Oversees and demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age, culture, ethnicity, spirituality and individual diagnostic needs of the persons served. Designs and implements safe labor allocations and staffing adjustments in accordance with census, unit activity and budgetary considerations. Accountable to administration, staff and patients/families for totality of care delivery.
• Must demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age, culture, ethnicity, and specific individual diagnostic needs of the patients served in his/her department. He/she must be able to assess and interpret data about the patient's status in order to identify each patient's specific needs and provide the care needed by the patient group (pediatric, adolescents and/or geriatric patient group, culture and diagnostic specific).
• Consistently expresses and demonstrates compassion and courtesy for patients. Extends courtesy and support to patient's families/visitors.

Principal Responsibilities and Tasks

The following statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the person assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all job duties performed by personnel so classified.

• Emergency Event Management - All code events: clinical, life safety, or weather. Actual and Drill Independently identifies the need to declare a code event on behalf of patient/staff safety. Leads or intervenes promptly and decisively to minimize risk and direct staff activities according to Emergency Operating Plans. Calls debriefing event to order, collects relevant data, processes reports, and provides feedback to management on areas of deficiency in a timely fashion.
• Judgment/Decision Quality - Identifies root causes of problems. Gathers and analyzes information to develop solution alternatives. Exhibits a trend of accurate judgment and sound decision making. Properly justifies reasoning behind decisions. Seeks management support when appropriate. Communicates decision outcomes to appropriate authority.
• Diversity - Demonstrates sensitivity and promotes a multicultural environment of respect, inclusion and collaboration for all team members. Minimizes inter-group conflict by offering support and engaging in fair employee practices. Balances cultural needs or requests while upholding organizational values, enforcing performance expectations and meeting staffing targets for patient care. Applies the components of cultural competence, (i.e., honoring differences, expressing sensitivity) to the workforce.
• Prioritizing and Delegating - Focuses on the right issue at the right time. Acts on important or urgent tasks before tackling less important ones. Leverages available resources and properly assigns tasks that can be and should be delegated. Provides a clear direction to designee. Reviews situation to identify opportunities to change or realign tasks in accordance with current conditions.
• Assuring the effectiveness and efficiency of patient flow by performing pre-admission screening, reservation and bed control functions.
• Participates in the initiation and implementation of information systems to streamline staffing operations. In regards to the selection, training and maintenance of an automated nurse scheduling system and agency contract negotiations.
• Responsible for the identification of the educational needs and development of the Per Diem, Perm Floater employee and evaluating their effectiveness.
• Monitor daily productivity and shuffle sheets and assure patient care coverage for staff is adequate based on the census.
• Coordinates unit specific staffing coverage for the hospital. Operational and financial management of staffing issues for the hospital. Communicates staffing needs as well as serves as a resource to assist in making sound changes/adjustments to staffing for operational, financial and human resource activities as defined by the unit Director.
• Medical Emergency Preparedness: Debriefing of all code events, organ procurement, RRT.
• Infection Control: Standard Precautions, Isolations Precautions, Patient Cohorting.
• Employee Health: Injuries, Needle stick, Safe Lifting.
• Information Systems: STAR System, VASTECH, EMR.
• 1Communications with Patient Care Managers and/or Administration: Practice or Conduct Variations, Emergency Codes, Employee Injury, Patient/Family Complaints.
• 1Rounding on Units: Assessment of Patient Care Requirements, Supports Unit Rounding Initiative.
• Conflict Intervention and Resolution.
• Assessment/Reduction of Sitters and Trips.
• Family Tours.
• Maintains Proper Confidentiality.
• Attendance in monthly staff meeting and all other departmental meetings deemed mandatory, is required. Attendance at mandatory in-services is required.
• Initiate and deliver Per Diem and Perm Floater Performance Evaluations on a monthly basis.
• Participate in the development of policies and procedures.
• Oversees the agency process in regards to verification of hours worked.
• Identify educational needs and development of the employees evaluating their effectiveness.
• Initiates and performs performance reviews for the Permanent Floater and Perm Diem Staff.
• Contributes to the regulatory process (i.e. CARF, TJC) assuring that all the components of the program are in place and current.
• Monitor and provide necessary staffing requirements for the budget process, as it relates to the Permanent Floaters, Per Diem Staff and the OSA.
• Monitors the quality of care provided by the Permanent Floaters and Per Diem; providing counseling and disciplinary action when necessary.
• Collaborates with director on long- and short-term planning relating to the general operations of the Staffing & Resource department.

Quality and Patient Safety:

• Provides vigilance in ensuring the safety of the clinical environment for patients, visitors, and other staff members.
• Demonstrates knowledge, practice, and accountability for compliance with the TJC National Patient Safety Goals.
• Guides staff in detecting, reporting, and taking action to avoid or correct safety risks.
• Reports adverse events and near misses to appropriate management authority. Monitors and reports suspected trends.
• Demonstrates knowledge and provides actions necessary in response to work-related injuries. Guides staff in the prevention of same.
• Collects, tracks and synthesizes data regarding employee labor allocations in a timely fashion. (Ratios, productivity, sitters, trips, etc.)
• Responds to Life Safety Emergencies demonstrating leadership decisions based on policy.

Cost Effectiveness:

• Applies budgetary and productivity formulas, as bench marked, according to staffing plans. Seeks to balance skill mix with appropriate placement of staff.
• Determines need to obtain adjunct staff to meet staffing targets (per diem, overtime, agency).
• Cancels staff using proper sequence as service demands decline.
• Uses computerized scheduling package to adjust or re-allocate hours of staff to meet projected patient care needs. Communicates changes to staff and Patient Care Managers clearly and in a timely fashion.
• Effectively sets priorities and demonstrates efficient time management skills.
• Oversees hospital-wide operations to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and maximize charge capture when delivering patient care.
• Guides staff to use discretionary time in a production fashion.
• Captures details on employee absences.

Education and Research:

• Assumes responsibility for maintaining and upgrading competency and clinical knowledge base related to role.
• Identifies and addresses learning needs of self and fellow staff.
• Considers provisions necessary for staff to attend required in-services or meetings.
• Supports participation in approved research projects, as requested.