(RN) Registered Nurse - Mission Control - 141951

UC San Diego; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 137,000 - 268,000; Full time

Job summary

UC San Diego Health is seeking an experienced Enterprise Bed Flow Nurse to join our 24/7 Mission Control, coordinating bed placement and patient throughput across UCSDH locations. You will leverage clinical expertise and policy to optimize transfers and ensure timely care transitions.

The role requires extensive inpatient RN experience, strong communication skills, and the ability to lead daily bed meetings while collaborating with multiple units and providers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Nursing.
• California RN license.
• Current UCSD BART certification, or BLS with plan to obtain BART within six months of hire.
• House Supervisor with placement experience or Inpatient System Flow Experience (RN).
• 4+ years of inpatient RN experience.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills across all organizational levels.
• Ability to manage complex workflow and multiple priorities in a busy unit.
• Knowledge of nursing standards, care delivery, and internal policies.
• Experience with human resources matters and documenting performance inputs.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to train and mentor subordinates.
• Familiarity with hospital management and data systems used in nursing units.
• Experience handling disaster/critical events and problem-solving under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and oversee patient placement across UCSDH locations.
• Monitor bed tracking dashboards and communicate updates during bed huddles.
• Collaborate with Unit Charge Nurses across three locations to assess acuity and prioritize bed placement.
• Lead structured daily bed meetings for organized patient placement.
• Monitor discharge delays and address barriers to throughput.
• Facilitate real-time communication between care teams for safe transitions.
• Participate in performance and quality improvement initiatives to enhance flow.
• Apply clinical expertise to support safe patient transitions across the enterprise.
• Coordinate interfacility transfer requests ensuring timely placement.
• Serve as central hub between referring providers, accepting physicians, nursing teams, transport, and leaders.
• Facilitate physician-to-physician consultations per policies.
• Monitor transfer volume and turnaround times; escalate urgent issues as needed.
• Ensure EMTALA compliance and proper transfer documentation.
• Collaborate with Mission Control, Bed Management, EDs, Procedural Areas, and inpatient units to optimize flow.
• Provide clinical triage and prioritization for transfer requests.
• Maintain situational awareness of capacity and service availability across the system.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Training and mentoring

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Nursing

Registered Nurse license (CA)

Tools

Nursing data systems

Job description

Description

UC San Diego Health is proud to be a four-time Magnet-designated organization and has now earned Magnet with Distinction from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Magnet is the gold standard for nursing excellence, achieved by only about 10% of hospitals worldwide. Magnet with Distinction is awarded to the highest-performing Magnet organizations, with only a select few earning this prestigious honor. This recognition reflects our commitment to transformational leadership, professional nursing excellence, innovation, exceptional patient outcomes, and an empowering practice environment where nurses thrive.

UC San Diego Health is seeking an experienced and collaborative Enterprise Bed Flow Nurse to join our 24/7 Mission Control. This role plays a critical part in ensuring safe, efficient, and timely patient movement across all UCSDH locations. The Enterprise Bed Flow Nurse will leverage clinical expertise and operational insight to coordinate bed placement, optimize patient throughput, and support seamless care transitions.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate and oversee patient placement across UCSDH locations, ensuring alignment with clinical needs and organizational priorities.
• Implements established protocols during increased census, initiates alerts per Mission Control policy and actively oversees bed tracking dashboards to ensure real-time accuracy and communicate updates during bed huddles.
• Partner with Unit Charge Nurses across three locations to assess patient acuity and prioritize bed placement for EDIP and Post-Operative patients.
• Leads structured daily bed meetings to ensure an organized and coordinated approach to patient placement.
• Monitor and follow up on discharge delays, proactively identifying and addressing barriers to timely patient throughput.
• Facilitate real-time communication between care teams to ensure safe and effective transitions of care.
• Participate in ongoing performance and quality improvement initiatives to enhance flow processes, streamline communication, and minimize delays.
• Apply clinical expertise and hospital policies to support safe and effective patient transitions throughout the enterprise.
• Coordinate incoming and outgoing interfacility transfer requests, ensuring timely placement of patients based on clinical needs, level of care, and bed availability.
• Serve as the central communication hub between referring providers, accepting physicians, nursing teams, transport services, and operational leaders to facilitate seamless patient transfers.
• Facilitate physician-to-physician consultations and acceptance processes in accordance with organizational policies and regulatory requirements.
• Monitor transfer request volume, turnaround times, and barriers to placement, escalating urgent issues as appropriate to ensure timely access to care.
• Support compliance with EMTALA, transfer agreements, and documentation requirements related to patient transfers and referrals.
• Collaborate with Mission Control, Bed Management, Emergency Departments, Procedural Areas, and inpatient units to optimize patient flow across the health system.
• Provide clinical triage and prioritization of transfer requests, utilizing nursing judgment to align patient needs with available resources and capabilities.
• Maintain situational awareness of system capacity, specialty service availability, and operational constraints to support enterprise-wide patient access and throughput.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• A Bachelor's Degree in Nursing.
• Registered Nurse (RN) issued by the state of California.
• Current UCSD BART certification, or BLS certification at time of hire with commitment to get BART within six months of hire date.
• House Supervisor with placement experience OR Inpatient System Flow Experience (RN).
• Four (4+) or more years of inpatient RN experience.
• Demonstrated strong interpersonal skills, ability to communicate clearly with individuals at all organizational levels (including physicians, nurse leaders, and administrative leaders), and comfort working in a dynamic, rapidly changing environment.
• Demonstrated skills to manage the complex workflow and multiple priorities involved with a patient care unit.
• In-depth knowledge of patient care clinical standards and care delivery, systems, external regulations and internal policies.
• Knowledge of human resources management policies, with the ability to train, monitor, evaluate, and document human resources matters and employee performance. Provides input to decision-makers on human resources matters.
• Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills, with the ability to quickly analyze problems, determine appropriate levels of intervention, and develop and apply effective solutions.
• Effective interpersonal skills for effective information exchange and problem-solving with all levels of management and staff, consultants and outside agencies.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to train and mentor subordinates, to convey complex clinical and technical information in a clear and concise manner. Prepares and presents a variety of reports, documentation, analyses, and project proposals.
• Knowledge of business software and specialized applications and data management systems used in nursing units or departments.
• Demonstrated hospital management skills, with progressive expertise in patient care services.
• Knowledge to manage disaster incidents, and sentinel events and ability to problem solve with critical thinking skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• MSN or relevant graduate degree.
• Relevant nursing certification (CCRN, NE-BC, CNML, etc.).
• Inpatient flow RN experience.

Special Conditions

• Must be able to work various hours and locations based on business needs.
• Employment is subject to a criminal background check and pre-employment physical.

Pay Transparency Act

Annual Full Pay Range: $136,600 - $267,600 (will be prorated if the appointment percentage is less than 100%)

Hourly Equivalent: $65.42 - $128.16

Factors in determining the appropriate compensation for a role include experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. The Hiring Pay Scale referenced in the job posting is the budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position. The Annual Full Pay Range may be broader than what the University anticipates to pay for this position, based on internal equity, budget, and collective bargaining agreements (when applicable).