UNIT COORDINATOR - Emergency Department

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital•Brattleboro, VT

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Emergency Department Unit Coordinator supports an efficient clinical environment through patient reception, communication, registration, and clerical work. The position answers calls and radio communications, maintains patient information and records, supports admissions and transfers, coordinates with clinical staff and ancillary services, and helps maintain departmental supplies and forms. The coordinator is expected to communicate professionally, protect patient confidentiality, and follow hospital procedures. The role may also provide appropriate direct patient care support, including transporting patients, preparing examination rooms, assisting with safe patient movement, performing EKGs, and responding to call lights. The Emergency Department is a 14-bed, Level III facility open 24 hours a day. Its patient population includes people of all ages, and care ranges from treatment of non-urgent, urgent, and emergent conditions to stabilization and transfer of critically ill or injured patients. The position is per diem, with rotating weekend and holiday schedules.

Requirements

High school graduate or equivalent.
Current Healthcare Provider CPR certification is required.
Ability to perform duties involving exposure to blood, body fluids, or tissues using Universal Precautions and bloodborne-pathogen standards.
Ability to meet the position's physical demands, including standing, walking, and sitting for portions of the workday; frequent talking or hearing; handling objects; and occasional pushing, pulling, stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, and reaching.
Ability to lift or exert force up to 50 pounds and up to 100 pounds for up to one-third of the workday.
Ability to hear equipment alarms, calls, and instructions from physicians, department staff, and others.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a health care environment preferred.
Knowledge of medical terminology preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide courteous, professional customer service to patients and families while maintaining discretion and confidentiality.
Respond promptly to telephone calls, HEAR radio, and TTY communications, route calls appropriately, and report suspicious calls as needed.
Comply with HIPAA requirements and safeguard patient information and records.
Obtain, update, and verify patient demographic and registration information, including guarantor and next-of-kin details.
Update patient information in the EMR and process charts for Health Information Management.
Process downtime forms and paper requisitions as needed.
Arrange patient transportation for transfers to psychiatric facilities, nursing homes, higher levels of care, or private residences, and copy records for transfers as needed.
Receive and transmit faxes, print ambulance reports for the EMR, and facilitate inpatient, observation, and surgery admissions in the EMR.
Answer the EMS radio as needed and document information received.
Arrange TelePsych and TeleNeuro consultations through DHMC and assist with helicopter transfers, including notifying appropriate staff of landing ETAs.
Process OrthoCare forms accurately and attach appropriate documentation.
Distribute paperwork for involuntary psychiatric patients to clinicians and follow procedures to complete the process promptly.
Initiate interpreter services according to hospital policies and procedures.
Maintain the EMR cardiovascular list for outstanding EKGs and reconcile it.
Transport patients to other departments as requested, prepare and clean examination rooms, assist with safe patient lifting and movement, perform EKGs, and answer patient and bathroom call lights as appropriate.
Complete and distribute the daily triage call sheet.
Maintain adequate supplies of current ED forms and an up-to-date directory of telephone numbers for staff, physicians, community resources, and hospital services.
Assist ED clinicians with paging or calling consulting clinicians.
Communicate STEMI, stroke, trauma, and sepsis alerts to appropriate staff.
Submit Plant Services or Help Desk email tickets for repair needs.
Assess and respond promptly to hospital alarms and emergency codes according to established protocols.
Support orientee training by serving as a resource and coordinator, modeling standards and policies, monitoring skills-checklist completion, assessing learning needs, identifying resources, and providing direct observation and ongoing feedback.