Patient Placement Specialist II

Stanford Children's Health | Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 153,000 - 174,000; Part time

Job summary

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is seeking a Patient Placement Specialist II for a part-time, rotating 12-hour shift in Palo Alto. The role involves coordinating bed assignments, managing patient placement requests, and communicating with nursing units to optimize capacity.

Ideal candidates have a nursing background with strong communication and collaboration skills, and experience with bedboard systems to support safe, efficient patient flow.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Nursing or health-related/business field.
• Minimum of five (5) years experience as registered nurse in acute care setting preferred.
• Registered Nurse by California Board of Registered Nursing.
• Knowledge of complex patient flow and care situations.
• Knowledge of bed control function in an acute care setting preferred.
• Effective written, oral and interpersonal communication skills.
• Intermediate computer skills (MS Word, Excel).

Responsibilities

• Receive patient placement requests and determine bed availability.
• Enter patient information into bedboard and communicate assignments.
• Monitor bedboard to ensure timely placements and escalate issues.
• Provide bed-related reports and participate in bed meetings with leadership.
• Coordinate with nursing units, Discharge Coordination, and Transfer Center to optimize capacity.

Skills

Interpersonal communication

Written communication

Bed management

Patient flow knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in Nursing or health-related/business field

Job description

Category: Nursing
Job Type: Part time
Shift: Rotating - 12 Hour
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Req: LP_00015898-2659883
Employee Group: CRONA
Benefits Eligible: No
Remote Eligible: No
Department: Patient Placement
Scheduled Weekly Hours: 12

At Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, we know world-renowned care begins with world-class caring. That's why we combine advanced technologies and breakthrough discoveries with family-centered care. It's why we provide our caregivers with continuing education and state-of-the-art facilities, like the newly remodeled Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. And it's why we need caring, committed people on our team - like you. Join us on our mission to heal humanity, one child and family at a time.

Job ID: LP_00015898-2651583

JOB SUMMARY

This paragraph summarizes the general nature, level and purpose of the job.

The Patient Placement Specialist II performs selected services and functions related to managing hospital capacity. This includes receiving requests for incoming patients and working with nursing floor staff, Administrative Nursing Supervisor and Administrators on call to identify the best available placement of patients utilizing the electronic bed board. Appropriately place existing or incoming patients to the proper bed with the following considerations: Patient Placement Matrix, primary diagnosis, nursing capabilities, staffing constraints, operating room schedule, admission portal prioritization and census levels. Use clinical background and knowledge to appropriately place patients, conduct clinical evaluation and review patient history when necessary, evaluate isolation needs, and collaborate with nursing units to help manage and identify patient movements to create capacity for both intensive care and acute care units. Utilizes reporting tools to facilitate effective planning for future bed demand with nursing, physician, and administration representatives. Manages timely assignment and placement of patient beds. Communicates both low and high census capacity issues to nursing, Administrative Nursing Supervisor, hospital administration and physician leadership. When necessary, activates Census Alert Protocol, (CAP) leading CAP meeting, and facilitating follow-up for resolution

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

The essential functions listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification. They are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.

Employees must abide by all Joint Commission Requirements including but not limited to sensitivity to cultural diversity, patient care, patient rights and ethical treatment, safety and security of physical environments, emergency management, teamwork, respect for others, participation in ongoing education and training, communication and adherence to safety and quality programs, sustaining compliance with National Patient Safety Goals, and licensure and health screenings.

Must perform all duties and responsibilities in accordance with the hospital's policies and procedures, including its Service Standards and its Code of Conduct.

• Receives patient placement requests from admitting, outside hospitals, Transfer Center, outpatient clinics, Emergency Department, community physicians, post-surgery patients (PACU), Labor & Delivery, and nursing units and obtains all information pertinent to assessing LPCH placement capability.
• Utilizes the Pre-Admit Tracking® tool to enter patient information on bedboard and determine if an appropriate bed is available based on placement requirements Communicates placement decision and expected arrival time to receiving nursing unit, LPCH Admitting and the party requesting the bed.
• Enters all necessary pre-admit information on the bedboard at the time of request to ensure accuracy of information.
• Uses the bedboard system to send appropriate messages to communicate patient assignments and movements to nursing and environmental services.
• Keeps detailed data on deferred and delayed patient admissions, providing weekly updates on patient placement issues.
• Prints and reviews operating room (OR) schedule to obtain finalized admissions from surgery. Reconciles OR schedule with Cerner® list of admissions to ensure that non-surgical direct admits are captured for bed assignment. Ensures that beds are reserved on the bedboard and that placements of surgical patients are communicated to the post anesthesia care unit (PACU).
• Monitors the bedboard continuously throughout the shift to ensure timely placement of patients. Immediately notifies Administrative Nursing Supervisor of potential complications.
• Responsible for closing and opening beds on bedboard and communicating bed closures to appropriate people and estimated time bed will reopen.
• Reviews expected admissions for the next day, reconciling with anticipated discharges to ensure bed availability. Provides report during bed meetings to advise of potential placement issues.
• Identifies vacated beds through monitoring of bed board and upgrades bed cleaning priority level as required (e.g., STAT, Clean Next. Dirty). Ensures that STAT and Clean Next requests receive timely response from housekeeping staff. Escalates any bed cleaning delay to Environmental Services supervisor.
• Utilizes census and staffing level data at beginning of shift to identify high-risk areas. Determines proactive solution and work with Discharge Coordination Manager and Administrative Nursing Supervisor to alleviate high risk areas before problem occurs.
• Facilitates daily bed meetings. Bed meetings notify administration and physician leadership, as well as nurse managers, of census status and anticipatedcapacity constraints for the current and following day.
• Utilizes computer software to generate and distribute reports related to capacity management and provides updates on successes and problems each week.
• Responsible for the development and implementation of policies and procedures relating to patient placement.
• Serves as system administrator for electronic bedboard ensuring that user rights and system attributes are configured appropriately.
• Provides training and feedback to the nursing units, Admitting Department, Emergency Department, Transfer Center, outpatient clinics, Labor & Delivery and PACU on the electronic bedboard as necessary.

Factors Essential to Performance of Duties:

• Must be able to simultaneously take direction from multiple people, manage multiple complex activities and prioritize tasks.
• Self-directed and able to take the initiative to proactively solve problems.
• Work as a team with all levels of LPCH employees.
• Ability to resolve difficult interactions with physicians, nursing staff and others.
• Flexibility to work in an environment of constantly changing priorities and work volume.
• Professional dress and demeanor.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Bachelor's degree in Nursing or other health-related/business field required

Experience: A minimum of five (5) years experience as registered nurse in acute care setting preferred

License/Certification:

• Registered Nurse by California Board of Registered Nursing

KNOWLEDGE

These are the observable and measurable attributes and skills required to perform successfully the essential functions of the job and are generally demonstrated through qualifying experience, education or licensure/certification.

• Knowledge complex patient flow and care situations.
• Knowledge of bed control function at an acute care setting preferred.
• Must have effective written, oral and interpersonal communication skills.
• Intermediate computer and word processing skills. Must be able to use Microsoft Internet, Explorer, Excel and Word.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

The Physical Requirements and Working Conditions in which the job is typically performed are available from the Occupational Health Department. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Pay Range

Pay Range
Compensation is based on the level and requirements of the role.
Salary within our ranges may also be determined by your education, experience, knowledge, skills, location, and abilities, as required by the role, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.
Typically, new team members join at the minimum to mid salary range.
Minimum to Midpoint Range (Hourly): $111.35 to $126.14

Stanford Medicine Children's Health (SMCH) strongly values diversity and is committed to equal opportunity and non-discrimination in all of its policies and practices, including the area of employment. Accordingly, SMCH does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, religion, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, veteran status, or disability, or the perception of any of the above. People of all genders, members of all racial and ethnic groups, people with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Qualified applicants with criminal convictions will be considered after an individualized assessment of the conviction and the job requirements, and where applicable, in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.