Primary Care Nurse Manager

Position Summary

This working ambulatory Primary Care nursing role serves as a key member of the Primary Care leadership team and is responsible for nursing practice oversight by organizing and leading the delivery of nursing care for assigned Primary Care Practices. Responsibilities include analyzing clinical practice and identifying opportunities to increase quality, safety, effectiveness, and efficiency; working with operational leadership to identify clinical indicators to measure, evaluate, and improve care; maintaining compliance with all federal, state, and local clinical policies, procedures, and regulations; supervision of registered nurses who deliver nursing care; and clinical competency education and testing oversight for CMA and other clinical support roles. The position leads continuous quality improvement projects and population health initiatives in collaboration with medical and operational leadership.

The Primary Care Nurse Manager will work closely with internal and external stakeholders in the organization to advance population health, care coordination, clinical initiatives, and nursing staff performance, and to deliver practice experience that contributes to positive health outcomes for patients and work culture for staff. This role may provide clinical coverage within licensure, scope of practice, and training when needed to support continuity of patient care and practice operations. This role will lead the assigned practices in a manner that delivers an exceptional patient experience that contributes to a positive health outcomes for patients and a work culture of kindness, inclusion, integrity, accountability, and excellence.

Responsibilities

• Administrative and Clinical Duties

• Accountable for working collaboratively with providers, administrative and clinical managers, and staff to ensure the achievement of practice-wide clinical goals/metrics. Supports all strategies in the area/functions assigned, ensuring organizational guidelines and policies are standardized across all clinical sites.

• Implements policies, procedures, and workflows related to nursing care, infection control, regulatory compliance, and clinical issues across the Primary Care organization.

• In partnership with the Director of Nursing, monitors key performance indicators (KPIs) and implements performance improvement initiatives related to nursing practice. Continuously seeks and implements operational improvements in clinical flow. Utilizes electronic medical record dashboards and reports to monitor KPIs of relevant clinical and quality workflows to ensure a holistic view of the practice’s clinical operations.

• Develops long-term unit staffing schedules and ensures adequate daily coverage in accordance with established staffing needs. In collaboration with the Director of Nursing, maintains effective nursing staff coverage within the approved budget. Collaborates with nursing and operational leadership to propose and justify incremental requests as needed.

• Executes clinical practice optimization and improvement strategies and utilizes a data-driven methodology to monitor progress. Highlights key recommendations to clinical and operational leadership.

• Fosters an experience and environment of patient and family-centered care through mentorship, coaching, and education of the clinical team.

• As a part of coverage, works with the care team to develop the plan and care across the continuum (e.g., inpatient, outpatient, home, skilled nursing facility, schools), which includes assisting with medication management (e.g., medication renewals), including medical prior authorizations as needed. Administers immunizations and medications.

• Executes nursing interventions by collaborating with the care team and following standards of care established by the unit/department.

• As a part of coverage, assumes responsibility and accountability for effectively managing nursing care of individual escalations. Assists with the management of urgent and emergent patient situations

• Supports ongoing clinical functions of the service to provide compassionate patient-centered care.

• Provides coverage for assigned pracices/service line within licensure, scope of practice, and training as appropriate. Provides coverage for the Practice Supervisor/Manager as needed.

• Maintains and supports evidence-based practices and a culture of safety based on regulatory guidelines.

• Strategy

• Responsible for the overall planning process for the division of Primary Care. Develops an effective plan for delivery of nursing care within the assigned area of responsibility. Uses findings from patient satisfaction surveys and input from the staff to establish a unit-based customer service agenda.

• Executes nursing interventions by collaborating with the care team and following the standards of care established by Columbia Primary Care.

• Executes implementation of organizational strategies for clinical staff.

• Develops clinical competencies for clinical staff at all levels and plans for implementation and ongoing assessment to ensure clinical support staff can perform their duties effectively, safely, and to the standard of care appropriate to their scope of practice. Utilizes a tracking system that ensures adherence to regular and ongoing compliance, education, and training requirements of the unit. Creates and maintains a master educational roster, tracks enrollment and attendance, and sends reminders to staff to ensure compliance. Ensures corrective action is taken for non-compliant staff as needed. Manages employee enrollment/rescheduling of classes, etc. Researches and suggests new learning opportunities to enhance the performance of the unit.

• Collaborates with medical leadership to develop and implement clinical triage protocols.

• Contributes to CUIMC population health and care coordination initiatives.

• Prepares and delivers reports to administrative and medical leadership outlining progress towards meeting goals and objectives related to clinical programs, quality, safety, and human resource initiatives of the nursing staff.

• Participates in the planning and opening of new sites with a focus on clinical staff requirements, clinical staff workflows, selection of clinical equipment used in nursing care, and patient-centered office flow.

• Leads clinical staff huddles and meetings to align the clinical team with organizational strategy, new initiatives, and programs. Conducts regularly scheduled meetings with Supervisors and other Leads to develop new paths, procedures, and approaches to maximize opportunities for performance and process improvement.

• Assesses and systematically collects data related to patient health status and works with the care team to develop the plan of care. Utilizes data to continuously meet care coordination needs across settings in conjunction with the patient, family, and/or other care providers

• Documents nursing assessment and interventions to reflect a comprehensive and integrated approach to patient care

• Provides care that is safe, ethical, patient- and family-centered, culturally congruent and evidence-based

• Identifies research protocols affecting the patient population served and keeps nursing staff informed.

• Develops, prepares, and monitors the personnel, supply, and equipment budgets in collaboration with the Practice Manager.

• Participates as a member of the healthcare team and various interdisciplinary committees to improve patient care and meet patient needs.

• Creates the daily, weekly, and/or monthly assignment list to ensure adequate clinical coverage and provider support in the practice. In a managerial role, the incumbent will also directly assist physicians with patient care, health education/promotion, electronic medical record (EMR) chart management, coordination of patient care, and clinical protocols as needed.

• People

• Directs oversight of assigned staff, including recruiting and human resource management. Ensures the approved HR strategy is implemented and adhered to. Ensures staff productivity benchmarks and quality measures are achieved. Develops remediation plans as needed. Monitors unit metrics and goals to measure the effectiveness of retention strategies.

• Promotes staff professionalism and performance with coaching, training, and feedback. Mentors staff in individual and t