Recognizing Hospital Medicine Administrators and Inpatient Coordinators
The Hospital Medicine Administrative and Inpatient Coordinator team is comprised of 5 full-time URMC employees. The team provides support seven days a week for over 60 physicians and over 40 APPs. They coordinate assignments for all patients to a provider care team each day. This patient census normally runs at about 240 patients per day; however, since the onset of the Pandemic, the Hospital Medicine census increased to well over 330 patients.
The HMD patient census not only increased, but also expanded to several non-traditional spaces within URMC, including ICUs, WCC, GCH and Women’s Health. Coordinating patient assignments within these non-traditional spaces was especially challenging, yet our coordinators partnered with the care teams in these areas to ensure patients were covered each day. Moreover, the HMD staff adapted exceedingly well to daily changes in processes and procedures in order to accommodate the patients and the providers.
The administrative staff managed to work through the Rochester summer with no personal vacation time, and were extremely flexible with their work hours. The financial burden of the Pandemic on URMC led to employee furloughs, and the HMD staff was not exempt. Three of the five administrative staff were affected by these furloughs. In spite of this, the staff focused their efforts and continued with great effort to ensure the support for the faculty and APPs was still a priority.
The administrative staff served as the direct supplier of PPE for the faculty and APPs throughout the pandemic. Also, the team assisted in the “Just in Time Training” for physicians and APPs brought in from outside the division to assist with the pandemic efforts. Furthermore, the staff provided socially distanced office space for the providers, including reassignment of current office space as well as assigning and distributing laptops when needed for patient care.
The Hospital Medicine Administrative Staff and Inpatient Coordinator team continues to be an integral part of the daily operations in hospital medicine. The team’s flexibility, patience and incredible effort during the many busy months of this pandemic provided structure, resources and support for the entire division. They are the engine that makes hospital medicine go each day.