RN Clinical Expediter Patient Logistics - Baptist

Join our team as a full time, days, RN Clinical Expediter -Patient Logistics, at INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center, in Oklahoma City.

Get to Know Your Team:

• INTEGRIS Health, Oklahoma’s largest not-for-profit health system, is seeking a dedicated caregiver to join us in our mission to partner with people to live healthier lives.  

• Benefits of being an INTEGRIS Health caregiver include front-loaded PTO, medical benefits through the extensive INTEGRIS Health network, financial assistance for continued education, 24/7 mental health support and more.  

• Take the first step toward growing your career by joining us.  

Responsibilities

The RN Clinical Expeditor – Patient Logistics plays a pivotal role in optimizing patient flow across the INTEGRIS Health System, coordinating care delivery, and ensuring efficient transitions within our hospitals. This position is responsible for expediting patient admissions, transfers, and discharges while maintaining a focus on patient safety, clinical quality, and service excellence. By leveraging data and analytics to inform decision-making, the Clinical Expeditor contributes to the daily efficiency of hospital operations, ensuring the timely movement of patients through the system.
This role requires a demonstrated commitment to INTEGRIS Health’s Mission, Vision, and Values, ensuring that patient care is delivered with the highest standards of compassion, quality, and respect. The Clinical Expeditor will actively promote a culture of patient-centered care by aligning daily operations with INTEGRIS Health’s Strategic Initiatives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to enhance operational efficiency and clinical outcomes.

A key component of this role is level loading across hospitals within the INTEGRIS Health System. This means balancing patient flow, bed utilization, and staffing needs across the system's hospitals to ensure even patient distribution and minimize bottlenecks. The Clinical Expeditor will also work collaboratively to decompress the Emergency Department (ED) by facilitating the timely transfer of patients to appropriate inpatient units or other care areas to reduce overcrowding and ensure optimal care.

The Clinical Expeditor will work closely with interdisciplinary health care teams, hospital leadership, and patient logistics personnel to address patient flow challenges and improve throughput across the health system. This role is critical to reducing delays, improving operational efficiency, and supporting the INTEGRIS Health mission of providing high-quality, patient-centered care. Adheres to National Patient Safety Goals as appropriate based on the level of patient contact this position requires. INTEGRIS Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 

All applicants will receive consideration regardless of membership in any protected status as defined by applicable state or federal law, including protected veteran or disability status.

Patient Flow Coordination:

• Perform chart reviews and collaborate with physicians and specialists for consultations, admissions, transfers, and discharges within the INTEGRIS Health System.
• Evaluate and negotiate appropriate patient placement within the system based on the current census, staffing levels, and patient acuity.
• Expedite, prioritize, synchronize, and mediate real-time clinical issues related to admissions, transfers, and discharges across multiple hospitals within the INTEGRIS Health System.
• Manage deviations from patient care pathways, resolve bottlenecks, and ensure adherence to service level agreements (SLAs) and organizational protocols.
• Coordinate patient care needs to minimize delays and optimize bed utilization across the health system.

Level Loading Across INTEGRIS Health System:

• Lead the level loading efforts to balance patient distribution, bed utilization, and staffing across hospitals within the INTEGRIS Health System to ensure that no single hospital is overwhelmed or underutilized.
• Proactively monitor hospital capacity across the system in real time, including bed availability, staff levels, and patient acuity, to make decisions regarding patient transfers.
• Collaborate with hospital leadership teams at each facility to ensure smooth and coordinated patient transfers, ensuring that patients are placed in hospitals best equipped to meet their clinical needs.
• Ensure equitable distribution of patients and resources to prevent capacity constraints and improve patient care efficiency.
• Adjust hospital admissions, transfers, and discharges as necessary to maintain optimal flow and avoid overcrowding or underutilization at any one hospital.

Decompression of the Emergency Department (ED):

• Work closely with Emergency Department (ED) leadership to decompress the ED by facilitating rapid patient transfers to appropriate inpatient units or other care areas within the INTEGRIS Health System.
• Ensure timely patient admissions to alleviate overcrowding in the ED, minimizing wait times and enhancing the patient experience.
• Collaborate with ED staff to prioritize patient discharges, coordinate critical transfers, and expedite diagnostic tests and consultations to prevent unnecessary delays.
• Monitor and evaluate ED congestion metrics, identifying trends that may lead to overcrowding and implementing proactive measures to mitigate these situations.
• Serve as a liaison between the ED and other departments, ensuring that timely transfers and efficient care transitions are executed throughout the patient journey.

Leadership and Collaboration:

• Serve as a leader and resource for facilitating patient flow across the INTEGRIS Health System, acting as a key point of contact for operational and clinical teams.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams, including nursing, case management, physical therapy, physicians, and support staff, to identify and eliminate barriers to patient flow and improve care coordination.
• Provide leadership support during high-demand periods, ensuring that patient care services are delivered efficiently and equitably across all facilities within the system.
• Contribute to quality improvement initiatives by identifying trends and barriers to patient flow, offering actionable solutions, and implementing changes across the health system.
• Participate in strategic planning meetings and patient flow discussions to optimize operational effectiveness and patient throughput.

Decision-Making and Communication:

• Anticipate and collaborate with case management on strategies for long length of stay or complex discharge patients, optimizing patient flow and reducing delays across the system.
• Analyze hospital policies, guidelines, and protocols to ensure the medical necessity of hospitalization and compliance with care standards.
• Maintain ongoing communication with ancillary department leaders to ensure timely testing, documentation, and discharge processing.
• Demonstrate high-level decision-making regarding discharge prioritization, especially when managing the flow across multiple hospitals.
• Effectively communicate patient flow challenges and solutions to all stakeholders, including hospital leadership and interdisciplinary teams.

Education and Training:

• Educate clinical and operational staff on the admission, transfer, and discharge processes across INTEGRIS Health hospitals.
• Provide training and orientation to staff on best practices for managing patient flow, level loading, and addressing emergency department bottlenecks.
• Act as a resource person for the logistics team, ensuring adherence to best practices and evidence-based approaches to patient flow management.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement by educating staff on new tools and strategies for optimizing patient throughput across the system.

Data Management and Analysis:

• Collect, analyze, and report data on patient flow performance, identifying barriers to achieving quality improvement goals across the INTEGRIS Health System.
• Utilize flow tools, electronic medical records (EMR), and patient tracking systems to manage patient movement and monitor capacity within the system.
• Monitor and track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to patient throughput, including length of stay, admissions, transfers, and discharge times.
• Provide real-time updates and insights to hospital leadership and other stakeholders on system-wide capacity issues and solutions.

Coordination of Care:

• Collaborate with care teams to promote the well-being of patients and ensure that their preferences are considered in care decisions.
• Remove barriers to holistic care, improving patient outcomes and care continuity across multiple facilities.
• Integrate evidence-based practices into daily activities to promote quality care and efficient patient flow.
• Cooperatively accept additional duties as assigned based on department needs.
• Participate in interdisciplinary rounds/huddles and discharge planning meetings to ensure timely patient movement and care transitions across the INTEGRIS Health System.
• Contribute to emergency preparedness efforts, ensuring that patient flow strategies are in place to manage high-volume patient periods, such as during pandemics or trauma events.
  
   

Qualifications

• Current RN license, AD required, BSN preferred
• Bachelor’s degree in nursing or other related field to healthcare/leadership required
• MHA or MBA preferred
• Minimum 10 years of clinical experience in a hospital setting.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced healthcare environment.
• Knowledge of patient flow processes and healthcare system dynamics.
• Must be able to communicate in English (Verbal/Written)