Emergency Dept Unit Clerk PT 1900-0300

Emergency Dept Unit Clerk

The ED Unit Clerks serve as the department facilitators, aiding in all processes outside of direct patient care to ensure patient care can happen correctly and efficiently. This is achieved by working very closely with the ED Charge Nurse and the ED Flow Coordinator to help manage the department and patient flow within the department. The ED Unit Clerk is responsible for all clerical duties within the department; including answering a 13-line phone system, all encounter scanning, copying, and faxing. The ED Unit Clerk works directly with the physicians within their assigned team to facilitate and assist in various tasks to aid in patient care, such as, paging and contacting other physicians, obtaining medical records, and arranging transportation to various radiology departments. The ED Unit Clerks are solely responsible for monitoring the 13-bed Patient Safety Surveillance monitoring system, and for arranging all EMS transportation out of the Emergency Department.

High school diploma or general education degree (GED) required. 1-3 months related experience and/or training preferred. Previous healthcare experience preferred. Successfully complete the hospital's orientation, core orientation and unit specific orientation. Successfully complete the organization's competency requirements for English, writing, spelling, and reading comprehension. Working knowledge of medical terminology. Maintains unsupervised access to the unit medication room(s) for stocking and/or retrieving supplies. Able to proficiently operate a computer in all aspects. Must be able to operate all Microsoft Office programs at an intermediate level. Advanced internet skills. General technical clerical skills required: scanning, faxing, copying, and operating an advanced telephone system. Advanced customer service skills. Must be able to communicate effectively with patients, visitors, and all members of the care delivery team. Work which produces high levels of mental/visual fatigue, e.g., interactive and repetitive or small detailed work requiring alertness and concentration for sustained periods of time, the operation of and full attention to a personal computer or CRT between 40 and 70 percent of the time. Involves regularly lifting of bulky or moderately heavy weights (i.e., up to 50 pounds), and occasionally assisting with heavier tasks or expending the equivalent effort in pushing, pulling, or otherwise handling material, equipment, and other objects. Answers/Manages 13 incoming phone lines which entails fielding public and in-house calls. ED Unit Clerks take Incoming Patient Report calls for patients being sent to the ER from doctor's offices, nursing facilities, and home health employees. Facilitates all patient radiology transfers/transports by keeping in contact via phone with CT, MRI, X-Ray, and Ultrasound. Solely responsible for the paging and contacting of any and all physicians on call for every consulting and emergent medical service that BMH offers 24 hours per day. Utilizes SmartWeb and Emergin paging systems, as well as ITSM and Conveyant phone databases. ED Unit Clerks are responsible for calling and initiating hospital call downs for the ED. This includes tier 1 and tier 2 trauma calls, AMIs, and Strokes, as well as calling down Code Black Level 1 and 2 for the hospital. Monitors and operates the 13 bed camera Patient Safety Surveillance program for patients who require extra visual and auditory monitoring. Responsible for scanning all encounter level documents into patient charts for emergency room physicians, nurses, and ED Techs. Also provide encounter scanning for Case Management/MSW, for all law enforcement documentation and subpoena information, and for the ED Pharmacy Department. This ensures the proper documentation is compiled for patients, creating the most accurate and complete medical record. Arrange and facilitate all patient EMS transfers out of the ED including transfers to nursing facilities, home to patients' current residence, to KNI for imaging not offered at Bronson, and to KPEP for those patients who qualify. ED Unit Clerks are the only ED employees trained to use the Bronson Transfer Tracking Application. Facilitates and monitors the ED's admission process. Responsibilities range from ensuring the ED Physician pages the correct admitting provider, to broadcasting to the team when the patient has a clean and ready inpatient hospital bed assignment. This helps ED staff expedite moving patients to inpatient status in a timely manner in order to reach SBAR and GEMBA goals, as well as provide the best possible care to patients. Facilitates ordering priority 1 blood and initiates massive transfusion protocols with the blood bank. ED Unit Clerks also do the "running" for massive transfusions, which entails retrieving the products from the blood bank and delivering back to the ED. Responsible for obtaining medical records from any and all outside hospitals for continuation of patient care for ED Physicians. Collects and encounter scans all requested records into the patients chart. Create a daily Physician call schedule for all consulting and emergent services offered by BMH. This involves maintaining and collecting all on-call schedules for all relevant offices and medical groups in the Kalamazoo/BMH area.

Function as a Patient Safety Assistant for suicide precautions only, which includes:

• Safe patient handling required.
• Responsibilities include observation and reporting patient activities and behaviors and appropriate response intervention to assure patient safety. The Patient Safety Assistant will demonstrate appropriate communication skills with patient/patient family and other healthcare providers, and practice confidentiality and safety procedures as defined by agency. The Patient Safety Assistant provide services in accordance with policy and procedure manuals. Employees providing direct patient care must demonstrate competencies specific to the population served.
• Maintain appropriate knowledge level to assist in patient turns and assist in patient transfer to commode/bathroom.
• Uses correct body positioning, proper body mechanics to avoid injury, utilizes safe work practices (e.g. pushing vs. pulling, patient transfer/lifting devices, etc.) and uses personal protective equipment when necessary.
• 80% Observation and prevention of unsafe patient behavior/activity.
• 10% Communicating with the responsible RN about patient status and pertinent input to facilitate care planning.
• 5% Accompanies patients for diagnostic tests occasionally.
• 5% Maintains a clean and orderly environment.

Shift

Second Shift

Time Type

Part time

Scheduled Weekly Hours

16

Cost Center

4300 Trauma Emergency Center (BMH)