Lead Administrative Nursing Supervisor - Patient Flow Specialist

Fairview Health Services•Minneapolis, MN

About The Position

The Lead Administrative Nursing Supervisor - Patient Flow Specialist role serves as a real-time operational hub for patient movement and capacity management across the University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC) and Masonic Children’s Hospital. They will work a .60 FTE (48 hours/two weeks) of which will be on an every third weekend rotation consisting of 12 hours shifts for that rotation. The role is responsible for coordinating hospital patient flow, including local and regional patient transfers, to support timely access to care and efficient hospital throughput. This individual will assume responsibility for departmental scheduling, process improvement, and the development of standards for the Administrative Nursing Supervisor team, including orientation, competencies, and required LMS training. Acts as a representative of hospital administration by investigating and appropriately escalating patient, family, physician, staff, media, and law enforcement concerns; evaluating and responding to unusual or unsafe incidents; and ensuring patient rights are upheld in accordance with the Minnesota Patient Bill of Rights. Provides operational leadership by allocating daily staffing resources, coordinating with the Staffing Office and Patient Placement to support safe patient flow, balancing patient care needs with human resource and financial considerations, and directing hospital departments in the absence of their managers to ensure continuity of patient care. Working in close partnership with the System Operations Center (SOC), this individual maintains continuous situational awareness of hospital capacity and patient flow and collaborates with operational leaders, care management teams, providers, unit-based clinical teams, and SOC staff to identify capacity constraints and system bottlenecks. The role facilitates escalation workflows, supports surge and contingency planning, and executes tactical actions to optimize patient movement and maximize system efficiency across the health system. Serves as the UMMC Representative for inter-facility patient throughput Participates in data review and QI projects as appropriate. Analyzes and provides reports to key management staff on a regular basis Partners with SOC Patient Placement to address and act on identified barriers to patient flow. Communicates situational awareness to SOC and hospital teams, frontline leaders, and frontline teams by supporting daily huddles, electronic communication, or verbal communication. Actively problem solves for anticipated surges across the hospital or bottlenecks in patient flow, activating system hospital surge plan when appropriate. Discharge and Throughput Management (Tactical Focus): Drives data-driven flow optimization via dashboards and report utilization (e.g., EDD compliance, discharge before 11 or noorates, transfer delays) to identify trends, support operational decisions, and drive process improvement. Continuously reviews and monitors these metrics through Epic and discharge dashboards. Partners with unit leadership and care coordination to identify discharge barriers, escalate delays, and prioritize discharges to support capacity. Maintains ongoing visibility of Medically Ready for Discharge (MRD) patients who remain admitted and proactively engages care teams to address outstanding barriers. Tracks EDD compliance to support timely and safe discharges. Facilitates early discharge planning in alignment with anticipated admissions and ED or PACU boarding, helping to smooth daily census variation and improve patient placement timeliness. Coordinates multidisciplinary efforts (nursing, case management, ancillary teams, and post-acute care) to resolve discharge obstacles, escalate resource needs, and reduce avoidable delays. Supports prioritization of discharges based on anticipated capacity strain, acuity, and strategic needs, including downstream placement or inter-facility movement. Promotes the use of automated tools and embedded workflows in Epic and related technologies to increase operational efficiency, support real-time decision-making, drive process and reduce communication lags. Transfer Prioritization in Coordination with SOC and UMMC Care Teams: Escalates transfer delays or placement challenges to operational and service line leaders when barriers exceed standard resolution pathways. Maintains timely, accurate communication with referring facilities regarding transfer status, expected timelines, and required clinical coordination. UMMC Capacity Monitoring and Communication: Monitors and escalates real-time flow barriers, including inpatient bottlenecks, ancillary service disruptions, unit closures, or admission surges, to appropriate hospital leaders. Actively participates in daily hospital-wide and system capacity huddles, providing updates on discharge forecasts, unit-level barriers, transfer status, and key operational constraints. Collaborates with frontline UMMC leaders to support situational awareness, inform contingency planning, and activate surge protocols as necessary. Engages in post-event reviews or flow-related QI efforts to identify root causes of discharge delays or missed transfers and to propose solutions that enhance future system responsiveness. Monitors System Status on an Ongoing Basis Leveraging Technology: Maintains a thorough, up‑to‑date understanding of departmental guidelines, workflows, and procedures. Anticipates and investigates potential patient‑flow bottlenecks by monitoring real‑time and historical data, coordinating with frontline managers and hospital leaders to address emerging issues. Proactively evaluates upcoming planned admissions as well as likely unplanned admissions and discharges to maintain situational awareness and support smooth throughput. Monitors the impact of ancillary, consulting, and other supporting services on patient flow and recommends timely interventions when these services create bottlenecks. Works in close partnership with the SOC, operational leaders, care management, providers, and charge nurses to resolve system‑wide flow barriers, taking immediate action when appropriate and escalating to the appropriate teams as needed. Monitors Patient Throughput: Collaborates and partners with the hospital Administrative Nursing Supervisors/Unit Managers and inpatient units to evaluate and develop unit admission/transfer/discharge plans. Collaborates with Patient Placement teams to facilitate admissions. Updates Patient Placement teams every two hours (or more frequently, as needed) about potential bottlenecks or hospital issues. Troubleshoots various hospital or unit discharge lists to direct and facilitate early discharges with system hospital resources. Responds to capacity alerts in the emergency departments to help ensure consistent patient flow and proper allocation of resources.

Requirements

1 year supervisory/management experience in healthcare. May include Charge RN or council leadership
Experience with data visualization tools, basic statistical knowledge and hospital workflows.
Registered Nurse Current Minnesota
Basic Life Support (American Heart Assoc, Red Cross or MTN) Upon Hire

Nice To Haves

Bachelors Degree in Nursing
3 years healthcare related leadership, supervisor, or management experience
2 years Administrative Nursing Supervisor experience

Responsibilities

departmental scheduling
process improvement
development of standards for the Administrative Nursing Supervisor team, including orientation, competencies, and required LMS training
investigating and appropriately escalating patient, family, physician, staff, media, and law enforcement concerns
evaluating and responding to unusual or unsafe incidents
ensuring patient rights are upheld in accordance with the Minnesota Patient Bill of Rights
allocating daily staffing resources
coordinating with the Staffing Office and Patient Placement to support safe patient flow
balancing patient care needs with human resource and financial considerations
directing hospital departments in the absence of their managers to ensure continuity of patient care
maintains continuous situational awareness of hospital capacity and patient flow
collaborates with operational leaders, care management teams, providers, unit-based clinical teams, and SOC staff to identify capacity constraints and system bottlenecks
facilitates escalation workflows
supports surge and contingency planning
executes tactical actions to optimize patient movement and maximize system efficiency across the health system
Serves as the UMMC Representative for inter-facility patient throughput
Participates in data review and QI projects as appropriate.
Analyzes and provides reports to key management staff on a regular basis
Partners with SOC Patient Placement to address and act on identified barriers to patient flow.
Communicates situational awareness to SOC and hospital teams, frontline leaders, and frontline teams by supporting daily huddles, electronic communication, or verbal communication.
Actively problem solves for anticipated surges across the hospital or bottlenecks in patient flow, activating system hospital surge plan when appropriate.
Drives data-driven flow optimization via dashboards and report utilization (e.g., EDD compliance, discharge before 11 or noorates, transfer delays) to identify trends, support operational decisions, and drive process improvement.
Continuously reviews and monitors these metrics through Epic and discharge dashboards.
Partners with unit leadership and care coordination to identify discharge barriers, escalate delays, and prioritize discharges to support capacity.
Maintains ongoing visibility of Medically Ready for Discharge (MRD) patients who remain admitted and proactively engages care teams to address outstanding barriers.
Tracks EDD compliance to support timely and safe discharges.
Facilitates early discharge planning in alignment with anticipated admissions and ED or PACU boarding, helping to smooth daily census variation and improve patient placement timeliness.
Coordinates multidisciplinary efforts (nursing, case management, ancillary teams, and post-acute care) to resolve discharge obstacles, escalate resource needs, and reduce avoidable delays.
Supports prioritization of discharges based on anticipated capacity strain, acuity, and strategic needs, including downstream placement or inter-facility movement.
Promotes the use of automated tools and embedded workflows in Epic and related technologies to increase operational efficiency, support real-time decision-making, drive process and reduce communication lags.
Escalates transfer delays or placement challenges to operational and service line leaders when barriers exceed standard resolution pathways.
Maintains timely, accurate communication with referring facilities regarding transfer status, expected timelines, and required clinical coordination.
Monitors and escalates real-time flow barriers, including inpatient bottlenecks, ancillary service disruptions, unit closures, or admission surges, to appropriate hospital leaders.
Actively participates in daily hospital-wide and system capacity huddles, providing updates on discharge forecasts, unit-level barriers, transfer status, and key operational constraints.
Collaborates with frontline UMMC leaders to support situational awareness, inform contingency planning, and activate surge protocols as necessary.
Engages in post-event reviews or flow-related QI efforts to identify root causes of discharge delays or missed transfers and to propose solutions that enhance future system responsiveness.
Maintains a thorough, up‑to‑date understanding of departmental guidelines, workflows, and procedures.
Anticipates and investigates potential patient‑flow bottlenecks by monitoring real‑time and historical data, coordinating with frontline managers and hospital leaders to address emerging issues.
Proactively evaluates upcoming planned admissions as well as likely unplanned admissions and discharges to maintain situational awareness and support smooth throughput.
Monitors the impact of ancillary, consulting, and other supporting services on patient flow and recommends timely interventions when these services create bottlenecks.
Works in close partnership with the SOC, operational leaders, care management, providers, and charge nurses to resolve system‑wide flow barriers, taking immediate action when appropriate and escalating to the appropriate teams as needed.
Collaborates and partners with the hospital Administrative Nursing Supervisors/Unit Managers and inpatient units to evaluate and develop unit admission/transfer/discharge plans.
Collaborates with Patient Placement teams to facilitate admissions.
Updates Patient Placement teams every two hours (or more frequently, as needed) about potential bottlenecks or hospital issues.
Troubleshoots various hospital or unit discharge lists to direct and facilitate early discharges with system hospital resources.
Responds to capacity alerts in the emergency departments to help ensure consistent patient flow and proper allocation of resources.