Director Nursing Operations, Resources & Informatics

Job Summary

This position oversees and leads patient throughput and flow, overall staffing for the nursing workforce, and data management and informatics for the patient care division at Frederick Health Hospital.  This Director provides strategy, development, and implementation of technology and data analysis to support nursing, nursing practice, and clinical outcomes. In conjunction with the manager, this position also has direct oversight of several departments including the transport team, centralized staffing and scheduling, nursing resources, and nursing informatics. In collaboration with other clinical leaders, provides clinical direction and management of activities related to the care management of assigned patient populations, including clinical policy development and implementation, clinical data management and reporting, achieving clinical outcomes, improving cost-effectiveness, and interdisciplinary collaboration and coordination in the management of patient care.

Supports, and is responsible for incorporating into job performance, the Frederick Health (FH) mission, vision, core values and customer service philosophy and adheres to the FH Compliance Program, including following all regulatory requirements and the FH Standards of Behavior.

 Essential Functions:

Patient Throughput and Flow

·        Development, administration and operation of patient flow and throughput throughout the hospital. Works to match patient demand from various access points into the hospital including the Emergency Department, Observation Unit and the Operating Rooms to optimize capacity.

·        Provide oversight of system-wide initiatives and outcome measurements related to bed capacity and patient throughput.

·        Monitors, develops, reviews and makes recommendations to hospital leadership regarding programs and processes impacting efficient throughput.

o   A key focus will be to provide oversight for safely managing flow and capacity through hospital stay as well as manage key leading metrics with the ability to share learning to improve the throughput process.

o   Ensure optimal patient throughput strategies are developed, integrated, and standardized across the continuum of care.

o   Interprets organizational throughput goals and objectives to staff. Facilitates staff discussion and response to issues that affect nursing practice and efficient care delivery.

Establishes standard operating procedures for staff in bed board and administrative coordinators; ensures the establishment of clear and concise work procedures and expectations, as well as assessment of performance.

·        Collaborates with other clinical leaders to advance clinical process, system improvement, and sharing of resources across the system.

·        Utilizes lean principles to foster operational improvement in patient centeredness, quality of care and cost-effectiveness.

·        Maintains knowledge of regulatory requirements and seeks to keep clinical areas continuously in compliance.

Patient Transport

·        With assistance from the manager, responsible for the supervision of the transport staff and patient flow coordinators to ensure patient flow is properly distributed to transporters to minimize delays.

·        Provide oversight of transportation operations, technology, budgets, and equipment.

·        Utilize standard metrics, tools, and processes to continuously improve transportation and placement services.

o   Produces statistical data through various methodologies and provides bi-weekly reports to record the productivity of the department and accuracy of patient placement.

Centralized Staffing and Scheduling

·        Provide oversight of the Centralized staffing and scheduling including hospital supervisors and staffing coordinators.

o   Oversight of staffing coverage for specified units 24 hours a day and scheduling of Float Pool staff as needed.

o   Collects statistical data and prepares reports reflecting staffing levels and scheduling patterns.

o   Optimize centralized scheduling and staffing systems that ensures a balanced allocation and deployment of resources across the organization.

·        Verify and coordinate agency schedule, billing, and statements providing weekly reports of agency usage and costs to the nursing leadership team.

Vacancy and Turnover Oversight

·        Coordinate with nursing directors, as needed, to proactively determine future staffing need and resource utilization.

·        Work closely with HR on the use of overtime, incentives, agency usage, etc. so that all areas are consistent and within budget. Recruiting, training, and supervising the management of the nursing resource staff, clinical professionals, and office and administrative staff, including providing continuing education opportunities for individuals and teams to advance their skills.

·        Facilitating high standards of patient care by implementing strategies and plans to meet staffing and resource needs.

·        Gather and analyze data related to staffing to inform and drive best practices and direction for Patient Care Services recruitment and retention.

·        Provide teams and individuals with what they need to excel in their roles and resolving conflicts and issues.

·        Provide oversight to the strategy, development, and implementation of technology to support nursing, nursing practice, and clinical application.

·        Collaborate with nursing leadership in the identification, development, planning, implementation, and measurement of overall nursing technology strategies to support quality patient care and professional nursing practice.

·        Provide timely reports and dashboards to provide line of sight to opportunities for improvement in nursing operations.  Including but not limited to all patient care services data and particularly related to finance, , patient outcomes and experience and staff engagement.

Finance & Data

·        Keeping track of standards and regulations to help ensure that the organization complies with all federal, state, and local laws and is up to date on accreditation policies and procedures.

·        Managing budgeting, accounting, and finance functions to ensure that clinical operations are financially sound.

·        Oversees nursing data to ensure accuracy.

·        Use data to identify actions items and focus areas.

Nursing Informatics

·        Direct oversite of and collaboration with Nursing Informatics team and facilitate foundation and growth of our informatics program into the future.

·        Improving the efficiency of clinical staff and fostering collaboration among physicians, nurses, and other care providers by minimizing their administrative burden.

·        Collaborate and communicate with the IT team, staff, and providers to facilitate successful adoption and optimization of EHR

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

·        Ability to demonstrate ethical behavior that supports the hospital's mission, values and commitment to compliance with all federal, state and regulatory laws. Inspires trust and exhibits honesty and integrity within the scope of daily activities.

·        Exhibits Frederick Health Leadership competencies.

·        Effective communication skills both verbal and written and maintain professionalism, tact, and diplomacy in communicating.

·        Exhibits professionalism, courtesy and excellent customer service, while interacting with patients, guests and co-workers.

·        Ability to work effectively with people from a variety of diverse backgrounds and skills.

·        Ability to maintain patient confidentiality.

·        Ability to interpret clinical and financial information

·        Microsoft or other Systems competency

Minimum Education, Training, and Experience Required:

·        Bachelor of Science in Nursing

·        Master’s degree in a clinical discipline is required

·        Minimum of six (6) years of advanced clinical practice in a broad spectrum of nursing disciplines and the ability to guide clinical practice

·        Current licensure as Registered Nurse in the State of Maryland is required

Patient Contact

            Performance of job does not require patient contact

Physical Demands: 

Light Work - Lifting up to 20 pounds on an infrequent basis (less than one lift every three minutes and/or carrying up to 10 pounds, or requiring walking or standing to a significant degree (about six [6] hours a day).

Ergonomic Risk Factors:

Repetition:  Repeating the same motion over and over again places stress on the muscles and tendons.  The severity of risk depends on how often the action is repeated, the speed of the movement, the required force and muscles involved.

Forceful Exertion:  The amount of physical effort required to perform a task (such as moving patients) or to maintain control of equipment or tools.  The amount of force depends on the type of grip, the weight of an object or person, body posture, the type of activity and the duration of the task.

Awkward Posture:  Posture is the position your body is in and its effect on the muscle groups that are involved in the physical activity.  Awkward postures include repeated or prolonged reaching, twisting, bending, kneeling, squatting, working overhead with your hands or arms, or holding fixed positions.

Contact Stress:  Pressing the body hard on sharp edges can result in placing too much pressure on nerves, tendons, and blood vessels.  For example, using the palm of your hand to hit or stick objects can increase risk of musculoskeletal disorders.

Working Conditions:

1. Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure Risk:   Category B – MAY have exposure to blood or body fluids.

Reporting Relationship:

Reports to VP Patient Care Services/CNO

Disclaimer:

The content of this document reflects the general duties, responsibilities, minimum skill, abilities, and competencies necessary to perform the essential functions of the job and should not be considered as an exhaustive detailed description of all work requirements of the position.