A Day in the Life of Patient Flow Coordinator - Nicole Higgins

My name is Nicole Higgins. I am a Patient Flow Coordinator (PFC) at University Hospital Limerick, part of the patient flow team. Before I started this post in January, I worked in the bed management department as a Clerical Officer.

My typical working day

Every day working with the team is different and tasks vary. As a Patient Flow Coordinator, I am assigned to certain wards across the hospital. I visit each of these wards to ensure each patient has a clear discharge plan starting from admission to hospital on day one. The purpose of my role is to facilitate the safe and timely discharge of our patients.

In the morning, our PFC team meets to discuss objectives for the day. I then start my Care, Culture and Governance (CCG) rounds where representatives from nursing management, Infection, Prevention and Control and Allied Health Professionals go to wards and collaboratively get an update on the patients on each ward from each team’s perspective. The CCG round goes from ward to ward and discusses patients that are potentially for discharge, pending diagnostics (check-ups, examinations, reviews, and scans), and patients who require complex discharge planning. I then escalate any issues to my line manager and we discuss as a team what we can do to enhance and progress each patient’s journey.

What I enjoy most about my work

My favourite part of my working day is working with my great group of colleagues – the Patient Flow Coordinators. We all work very well both individually and together. We help and support one another with our duties and offer solutions to issues that arise. I love a lot of elements about our work, such as the chance to work as part of a multidisciplinary team with doctors, nurses, OTs, physio, management and our community colleagues to name a few. Above all, we get to help people and enhance the patient experience, which makes us feel like we are really making a positive difference.

My most memorable career moment

My most memorable or exciting career moment to date would be going from my past role in bed management to my current role now. Having experience working in both the PFC team and bed management has allowed me to build on my knowledge and develop new skills. Not only has my clerical knowledge increased, but I’ve also learned a lot from a clinical point of view from working and listening to staff and medical teams.

Key area of focus our team

As I mentioned, our key focus within the patient flow team is to ensure the safe and timely discharge of each patient. We want to make sure our patients have a clear discharge plan from day one of admission to guarantee smooth flow from start to finish throughout their hospital stay. We strive to provide a service, which improves their experience so that each patient is getting the right care, in the right place, at the right time. Discharge planning is a collaborative approach and ensuring a safe and timely discharge for each patient is imperative. It is not a statistic, it must be continuously monitored and adjusted accordingly. To ensure this, It is vital that we collaboratively monitor and assess our patients’ needs in accordance with their wishes, and in as flexible a way as possible.

What I would you like to see happen

We would like to expand our role as Patient Flow Coordinators, we strive to have no barriers in our patient’s journey through University Hospital Limerick.

What our colleagues say

Feedback from our Clinical Nurse Manager (CNM) colleagues about the Patient Flow Coordinator service is very encouraging. See what Edel, Helen, Meara and Michelle say:

“The PFCs are a great addition to the team. Nicole and Lorna know what is required of them and their input is a great help with diagnostics and discharge issues.” Edel Buttery, CNM2, Ward 1D.

“Huge part of the team, save us chasing consults, teams and diagnostics, it really helps speed up discharges” Helen Gethins, CNM1, Ward 1C

“Very useful, they really help to be a link between organising nursing homes, consults and diagnostics” Meara Fitzgerald, CNM1, Ward 3C

“PFCs really help escalate and promote discharges within the AMU” Michelle Boyce, CNM2, Acute Medical Assessment Unit.