Registered Nurse (Bed Coordinator)

Duties

Bed Coordinator

Back-Up Utilization Management

Full-Time M-F

Half Days 7:30-4:00 PM

Half PMs 11:30-8:00 PM

3-5 years of RN experience required

Using nursing process and practice principles, the RN will perform preadmission screening for admissions and transfers utilizing the VHA standardized criteria set and collaborate with staff to prioritize admissions based on clinical appropriateness, level of care needed, and facility capacity. Will provide cross coverage for UM nurse and RCM nurse role.

The RN is responsible for coordinating primary care physician team assignments and the availability of beds for primary and specialty care services in the Medical Center, which includes beds for the surgery schedule, cath lab schedule, scheduled admits, and non-scheduled admissions from the ED, clinics, and transfer requests from the RCM nurses. This role works closely with the Nurse Managers, Assistant Nurse Managers, Staffing Supervisors, Bed Control staff, RCMs, charge nurses, Chief Residents and the MOD to facilitate the appropriate bed placement for patients. The nurse will use the VHA designated standardized criteria and work with physician staff to ensure appropriate bed utilization for safe patient care.

Requirements:

• Demonstrated professional, leadership, and organizational skills
• Demonstrated utilization management thinking and skills
• Demonstrated continuous improvement and critical thinking skills
• Demonstrated data management skills and experience with EXCEL, MS PPT, and MS Word, CPRS, VISTA
• Global knowledge of medical, surgical, and psychiatric issues to enable the RN to anticipate the needs of specific patients after initial phone assessment
• Knowledge of inpatient and outpatient access procedures
• Knowledge of inpatient "unit based criteria" and InterQual Criteria for accepting/transferring patients and making appropriate assignments
• Knowledge of all services available within the VA to determine if this facility could be of benefit to incoming veteran
• Interpersonal communication/coordination skills, always paying attention to detail
• Rapport with subspecialty chiefs, coordinators and team leaders
• BCLS Certification
• Maintains PIV encryption
• Effectively utilizes a variety of automated/software systems and supporting processes (including but not limited to): CPRS, BMS, NUMI, VISTa, Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc.

Internal UM Nurse Role:

In the UM Nurse role, the RN will perform reviews utilizing the VHA designated standardized criteria, collaborate with staff to assure the patients are at the appropriate level of care for the appropriate length of stay. Provides cross coverage for Bed Coordinator nurse role.

The RN ensures quality patient care in a timely manner utilizing resources appropriately in the provision of health care services to veterans. The RN works with practitioners to assure appropriate patient placement and discharge. The RN is also responsible for reviewing daily in-patient cases prior to and after admission, and may also include review of appropriateness of care in the non-acute/out-patient settings and focused studies of utilization patterns on an "as needed" basis. The UM Nurse is accountable for accurate and complete assessment of patients using standardized criteria, data entry, and data analysis as needed. The RN acts as a facility consultant for UM issues. The RN will be a member of teams to support performance improvements as needed.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• U.S. citizenship. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Full unrestricted Licensure, Certification, or Registration required
• Graduate of a school of professional nursing approved by the appropriate State-accrediting agency and accredited by one of the following accrediting bodies at the time the program was completed by the applicant: The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) or The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). In cases of graduates of foreign schools of professional nursing, possession of current, full, active and unrestricted registration will meet the requirement of graduation from an approved school of professional nursing.
• Current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a graduate professional nurse in a State, Territory or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico) of the United States, or the District of Columbia.

Grade Determinations: The following criteria must be met in determining the grade assignment of candidates, and if appropriate, the level within a grade:

• Nurse I Level I - An Associate Degree (ADN) or Diploma in Nursing, with no additional nursing practice/experience required.
• Nurse I Level II - An ADN or Diploma in Nursing and approximately 1 year of nursing practice/experience; OR an ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a bachelor's degree in a related field with no additional nursing practice/experience; OR a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN) with no additional nursing practice/experience.
• Nurse I Level III - An ADN or Diploma in Nursing and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR an ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a Bachelor’s degree in a related field and approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a BSN with approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Master's degree in nursing (MSN) or related field with a BSN and no additional nursing practice/experience.
• Nurse II - A BSN with approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR ADN or Diploma in Nursing and a Bachelor’s degree in a related field and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Master's degree in nursing or related field with a BSN and approximately 1-2 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Doctoral degree in nursing or meets basic requirements for appointment and has doctoral degree in a related field with no additional nursing practice/experience required.
• Nurse III - Master's degree in nursing or related field with BSN and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience; OR a Doctoral degree in nursing or related field and approximately 2-3 years of nursing practice/experience.

Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G-6 Nurse Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office.

Education/Experience Requirements: Years of experience and educational degree factor into the determination of pay.

Preferred Experience: The VA hires new graduates. Some positions require nursing experience and this is detailed in the duty section of the announcement.

Experience refers to paid nursing experience. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including LPN experience.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: