Access and Flow Leader - Corporate Access and Flow

One of Canada's Best Diversity Employers and Greater Toronto's Top Employers for many consecutive years, William Osler Health System (Osler) provides a safe and supportive health care network to grow your career. Osler is nationally recognized for its commitment to patient safety and is Accredited with Exemplary Standing, the highest rating a Canadian hospital can receive. As a major Ontario hospital system, and home to some of the biggest specialty and emergency departments in the country, Osler serves the 1.3 million residents of Brampton, Etobicoke and surrounding communities. We are proud to offer you incredible exposure to best-in-class health care delivery and challenging hands-on opportunities to stay at the top of your game.

A hospital system built for and by the community, we continue to expand our services to meet the needs of a growing population, creating opportunities for increased hands-on skills development, cross-department training and promotional opportunities. Guided by our accomplished senior leadership team, together we are driving our vision of patient-inspired health care without boundaries.

At Osler, we invest in careers that go beyond where health care professionals like you can achieve their goals and find deep personal and professional fulfillment. Join our team today!

Access and Flow leaders primarily facilitate the flow of patients in order to maximize patient throughput and place the right patient into the right bed in the right time. The leader identifies and addresses processes and or issues that may impede patient flow and acts as a resource to high risk patients who require co-ordination and navigation through services to achieve outcomes consistent with best practice. The leader also assists the organization in achieving corporate, Ontario Health, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Long-Term Care targets for access and flow outcomes.

Accountabilities:

• Functions as the primary facilitator of daily patient flow
• Provides direction and coordination of admissions, discharges and transfers and has knowledge of current bed availability across the entire hospital
• Facilitates appropriate and timely transfers between units
• In collaboration with the Admitting department, regularly reviews preferred accommodation bed requests and follows up with the units to ensure accommodations are achieved whenever possible
• Coordinates and facilitates repatriation following established repatriation guidelines and communicates with resource Nurses regarding repatriation admissions
• Liaises with ICU, Paediatrics, Mental Health and Addictions and other specialty areas that arrange their own repatriations and utilizes this information to make appropriate placement decisions
• Provides direction to admitting/bed clerk as needed to expedite bed assignments
• Communicates with physicians/hospitalists related to patient placement and throughput issues as identified prior to or following the bed meeting
• Liaises with the discharge coordinator and external health care providers, including Home and Community Care Support Services, to proactively facilitate the identification of resources and opportunities to improve the patient experience by reducing length of stay
• Collaborates with discharge coordinators and resource nurses to facilitate timely discharges
• Collaborates with the patient care units and housekeeping to prioritize cleaning of rooms based on need
• Conducts regular rounds in the Emergency Department to facilitate the smooth transition of potential and unscheduled admissions so that bed placements are timely
• Conducts regular rounds on all nursing units to maintain visibility, continuously tracks and determines alternate options for bed placements to mitigate congestion in the Emergency Department and other admitting sources
• Maintains overall cognizance of the current hospital activity level and the activity within 24 hours with consistent communication to all nursing unit contacts (team leaders, resource nurses and PCMs) and brings issues regarding their patients, units and flow to their attention as soon as possible
• Lead bed meetings at least once per day and as needed
• Initiates bed alerts as required and creates and sends electronic bed management updates
• Identifies pre-gridlock situations and utilizes the Bed Escalation Policy to support the identification of an appropriate strategy and plan of action to prevent or deal with gridlock
• Provides coordination, supervision and leadership during all bed alerts
• For shifts worked beyond the regular weekday shift, the following are additional key accountabilities and responsibilities:
  • Walk-abouts – conducts ongoing rounds in all patient care areas and works with clinical and support service department to expedite issue resolution and optimize efficiency
  • Resolving operational issues that have been escalated from the resource nurse/charge nurse
  • Resolving patient complaints, staff and visitor issues that have been escalated from the resource nurse/charge nurse
  • Develop and enhance staff leadership through coaching and support
  • Coaches staff in the use of resources and protocols/policies to assist with decision making
  • Help ensure a safe and risk adverse environment for patients and staff
  • Optimize resource utilization (including staffing resources) within the organization, re-organizing staff where appropriate to ensure safe and efficient workflow
  • Serves as a resource to the type of patient that each unit can accept and the level of care provided on each unit type
  • Acts as a resource for codes or other emergency situations
  • Escalate issues to the administrative director on-call where appropriate
  • Follow up with manager/directors on any relevant issues

• Registered Nurse (with College of Nurses of Ontario) with BScN or a health related discipline or equivalent experience in acute care
• Masters prepared is preferred
• Post graduate diploma in Utilization Management is an asset
• Minimum five years recent acute care hospital experience
• Two years experience in a progressive leadership role
• Previous experience in utilization review is an asset

Hours: Days/Evenings/Nights, including weekends and statutory holidays (subject to change in accordance with operational requirements)

Internal application deadline: October 16, 2024

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Osler values inclusivity and diversity in the workplace. We welcome and encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds. We are committed to providing accessible employment practices that are in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. If you require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process, please notify Human Resources at [email protected].

While we thank all applicants, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Any information obtained during the course of recruitment will be used for employment recruitment purposes only, and not for any other purpose.