Overview
The Short Stay Unit (SSU) Nurse in Charge (NIC) will work solely in the SSU. The SSU NIC will be primarily responsible for the flow of patients between the main department and the SSU, while also supporting, leading and directing nursing staff to provide high quality, patient centred care.
Essential role functions: the facilitation of movement of patients from the Emergency Department to the SSU. Overseeing the provision of a high standard of timely care to all patients within the SSU, while also ensuring the safety of all staff, patients and carers. The SSU NIC will liaise with medical and allied health teams to ensure safe and timely discharge from the SSU.
Responsibilities
The SHED NUM, SHED Director and SH Access staff are responsible for ensuring that all staff working within the SSU NIC role are aware of the roles and responsibilities.
Process Details
- Lead, support, motivate and direct staff in the provision of high quality, culturally safe health care.
- Supervise employees and act appropriately to manage any behaviour that does not meet policy and procedure, ensuring safe patient care.
- Delegating the workload to nursing staff appropriately, acknowledging the care requirements of each patients and supporting the nursing staff where needed.
- Collaborate with the SSU consultant to identify appropriate SSU patients within the emergency department, facilitating their timely transfer to the unit.
- Contact the emergency department nursing staff to facilitate handover of emergency patients requiring SSU admission, ensuring all necessary documentation present to facilitate safe transfer to the SSU.
- Coordinate the admission of patients to the SSU within the 4-hour NEAT target.
- Attend regular department huddles and appropriately escalate issues within the SSU to the ED NIC, Access Manager/ Bed Coordinator and/or After-Hours Coordinator and the medical teams.
- Collaborate with the medical staff and allied health teams regarding patient care and initiate early discharge planning to maintain flow of the unit.
- Support the Emergency Department NIC, by managing the rostering requirements of the department, ensuring an adequate skill mix for each shift.
- Maintain communication regarding patient departure delays on the bed requests, and liaise with access staff regarding barriers to timely ward transfers.
- Report clinical and non-clinical incidents via VHIMs.
Supporting Documentation
Nil
