PATIENT THROUGHPUT COORDINATOR (24 HRS/WEEK, NIGHT SHIFT)

Riverside Healthcare; Kankakee (IL); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Riverside Healthcare in Illinois is seeking a Patient Throughput Coordinator (RN) to improve patient flow, bed placement, and discharge planning. The role collaborates with nursing leadership and interdisciplinary teams to optimize throughput, capacity, and care quality across the hospital.

The coordinator reviews admissions and transfers, manages discharges, and supports real-time solutions to throughput barriers while ensuring regulatory compliance and patient safety.

Qualifications

• RN license in the state of practice (required)
• BSN preferred
• BLS certification required
• ACLS certification required

Responsibilities

• Monitor hospital capacity and patient flow in real time, proactively addressing barriers that impact admissions, transfers, and discharges.
• Coordinate direct admissions and transfers from internal and external sources.
• Collaborate with nursing leadership to ensure appropriate patient placement.
• Prioritize admissions based on acuity, capacity, and organizational needs.
• Support achievement of key metrics such as LOS, discharge before noon, and bed turnaround time.
• Communicate proactively to align patient placement, readiness, and resource availability.
• Participate in daily throughput or bed huddles and provide real-time updates on capacity and discharge status.
• Provide direct patient care support as needed.

Skills

Patient flow coordination

Discharge planning

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Quality improvement

Education

RN license (US)

BSN preferred

BLS

ACLS

Job description

Overview

The Patient Throughput Coordinator (PTC) collaborates with nursing and leadership, and other support departments to manage patient throughput, capacity, length of stay, and quality of care. The PTC works with nursing units and leaders to identify best available bed placement at the time of request given patient needs, staffing resources, level of care requirements, and throughput goals. To facilitate the throughput of all patients the PTC reviews and plans for all scheduled and unscheduled admissions, monitors discharges, coordinates transfer-in requests, and escalates care barriers.

Essential Duties:

Patient Flow Coordination

• Monitor hospital capacity and patient flow in real time, proactively identifying and addressing barriers that impact admissions, transfers, and discharges.
• Facilitate and coordinate all patient admissions and transfers.
• Collaborate with nursing leadership to ensure appropriate patient placement.
• Prioritize admissions based on acuity, capacity, and organizational needs.
• Anticipate throughput challenges and implement real-time solutions to maintain patient flow.

Admission & Discharge Oversight

• Coordinate direct admissions and transfers from internal and external sources.
• Ensure discharge readiness through ongoing assessment and collaboration with the interdisciplinary team.
• Identify and escalation barriers to timely discharge, including delays related to clinical readiness, transportation, placement, or pending diagnostics.

Quality Improvement

• Regularly conduct retrospective and real-time chart audits reflective of organizational goals.
• Identify real-time documentation gaps and collaborate with nursing to correct.
• Participates in continuous quality, performance, and outcome assessment and improvement initiatives to ensure the improvement of care management/care coordination and available clinical and social support services.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams including physicians, case management, therapy services, and ancillary departments to ensure effective communication and coordination of patient care and discharge planning.
• Participate in daily throughput or bed huddles and provide real-time updates on capacity, pending admissions, and discharge status.
• Communicate proactively to align patient placement, readiness, and resource availability.

Operational Efficiency

• Support achievement of key organizational metrics, including length of stay (LOS), discharge before noon, ED boarding time, and bed turnaround time.
• Utilize data, dashboards, and rounding insights to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend and support implementation of process improvements to enhance throughput.

Clinical Support

• Provide direct patient care support as needed.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and organizational standards during transitions of care.
• Reinforce patient and family education related to discharge instructions when appropriate.
• Support Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) with EKG interpretation and monitoring as needed.

Responsibilities

Required Education/Licensure:

• Graduate of an accredited school of nursing (BSN preferred)
• Current Registered Nurse (RN) license in state of practice
• BLS required
• ACLS