What are the responsibilities and job description for the OR/PACU Practice Assistant BWH position at Mass General Brigham?
Site: The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.
Practice Assistant - 24 hour Weekend Day - BWH OR Clinical Support
A $750.00 sign on bonus is being offered to eligible new employees hired in our PA positions.
1. Coordinates the effective and accurate progression of a complex operating
room schedule, helping patients progress efficiently and effectively throughout the Perioperative Space.
2. Acts as the central communications person of the Perioperative Space for the Operating Room and PACU Departments. This position is responsible for initiating or receiving all telephone messages to and from all hospital areas and conveying information clearly and concisely.
3. Will act as the primary liaison to assist with the patient information via the Day Surgical Unit, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Inpatient Floors and Intensive Care Units, and Operating Room.
4. Responsible for maintaining a well-stocked, clean, and orderly work environment. Maintains par levels for all supplies for the unit, including, but not limited to, forms and secretarial supplies, respiratory, value links supplies, food stuffs, patient controlled anesthesia supplies, epidural pumps, oximeter probes, and EKG supplies.
5. Develops a rapport and collegial relationship with nursing and clinical staff and responds to questions/requests from physicians appropriately.
6. Will be able to assist with the day-to-day non-clinical operations and environmental issues. This includes communication with various ancillary services such as Engineering and EVS, Telecommunications and the Materials Management. Update onsite leadership as appropriate.
7. Safeguarding sensitive medical information and practicing strict procedures in handling confidentiality of data pertaining to patients.
8. Ensure all necessary individuals are notified and given copies of finalized schedules. Updates schedule and informs all appropriate personnel and areas of OR time changes.
9. Checks the pneumatic tube system on a regular basis as advised if something is coming to the station to ensure proper flow of information/products.
10. Keeps informed of policies and procedures for emergency situations which may occur (i.e., disaster, Epic downtime, and outages, etc.).
11. Documents quality assurance activities for various procedures and devices as needed.
12. Ability to float to all other areas as necessary. Is cross-trained to perform essential secretarial duties of the PACU, Preop, ERU, and OR desks. Performs all other duties as assigned.
13. Able to assist in the training and assisting of new onboarding staff, as they train and learn to effectively perform their jobs in a satisfactory manner.
Operating Room Duties
PACU Duties
1. Courteously greets patients and family members, completes all admission information for them upon arrival, correctly identifies each patient, places correct armband, and determines NPO status. Notifies appropriate nurse of the arrival of Day Surgery patients, Pre-op Holding of same day admissions and/or PACU of inpatient admissions from the Main OR.
2. Assigns patients to beds according to the plan set forth by the Nurse in Charge. Logs in all patients into Epic promptly, accurately for event times and length of stay ensuring correct statistical data and financial reimbursement.
3. Prepare patients charts for the next day, including but not limited to printing, wristbands, labels, and appropriate paperwork and stickers to prepare nursing staff to receive patients upon arrival to Pre-Op.
4. Ascertains that valuables are properly cared for.
5. Periodically and independently updates family as to patient’s status, changes and delays, and acts as general liaison among patient, family, and surgical staff.
6. Runs daily report from EPIC for next day reminder calls to place to all surgical patients.
7. Walks all out of OR patients to their appointment destinations prior to surgery (Mammography, Nuclear Medicine, CT Scan, Radiology).
Onsite
75 Francis Street
24
Regular
Day (United States of America)
The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. is an Affirmative Action Employer. By embracing diverse skills, perspectives and ideas, we choose to lead. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, military service, genetic information, and/or other status protected under law. We will ensure that all individuals with a disability are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.
At Mass General Brigham, we know it takes a surprising range of talented professionals to advance our mission—from doctors, nurses, business people and tech experts, to dedicated researchers and systems analysts. As a not-for-profit organization, Mass General Brigham is committed to supporting patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. We place great value on being a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization as we aim to reflect the diversity of the patients we serve.
At Mass General Brigham, we believe a diverse set of backgrounds and lived experiences makes us stronger by challenging our assumptions with new perspectives that can drive revolutionary discoveries in medical innovations in research and patient care. Therefore, we invite and welcome applicants from traditionally underrepresented groups in healthcare — people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ community, and/or gender expansive, first and second-generation immigrants, veterans, and people from different socioeconomic backgrounds – to apply.
Practice Assistant - 24 hour Weekend Day - BWH OR Clinical Support
A $750.00 sign on bonus is being offered to eligible new employees hired in our PA positions.
Job Summary
General Duties1. Coordinates the effective and accurate progression of a complex operating
room schedule, helping patients progress efficiently and effectively throughout the Perioperative Space.
2. Acts as the central communications person of the Perioperative Space for the Operating Room and PACU Departments. This position is responsible for initiating or receiving all telephone messages to and from all hospital areas and conveying information clearly and concisely.
3. Will act as the primary liaison to assist with the patient information via the Day Surgical Unit, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Inpatient Floors and Intensive Care Units, and Operating Room.
4. Responsible for maintaining a well-stocked, clean, and orderly work environment. Maintains par levels for all supplies for the unit, including, but not limited to, forms and secretarial supplies, respiratory, value links supplies, food stuffs, patient controlled anesthesia supplies, epidural pumps, oximeter probes, and EKG supplies.
5. Develops a rapport and collegial relationship with nursing and clinical staff and responds to questions/requests from physicians appropriately.
6. Will be able to assist with the day-to-day non-clinical operations and environmental issues. This includes communication with various ancillary services such as Engineering and EVS, Telecommunications and the Materials Management. Update onsite leadership as appropriate.
7. Safeguarding sensitive medical information and practicing strict procedures in handling confidentiality of data pertaining to patients.
8. Ensure all necessary individuals are notified and given copies of finalized schedules. Updates schedule and informs all appropriate personnel and areas of OR time changes.
9. Checks the pneumatic tube system on a regular basis as advised if something is coming to the station to ensure proper flow of information/products.
10. Keeps informed of policies and procedures for emergency situations which may occur (i.e., disaster, Epic downtime, and outages, etc.).
11. Documents quality assurance activities for various procedures and devices as needed.
12. Ability to float to all other areas as necessary. Is cross-trained to perform essential secretarial duties of the PACU, Preop, ERU, and OR desks. Performs all other duties as assigned.
13. Able to assist in the training and assisting of new onboarding staff, as they train and learn to effectively perform their jobs in a satisfactory manner.
Operating Room Duties
- Coordinates and communicates with inpatient floors, ED, radiology, and other pre-procedure areas, and transporters to ensure that the pre-operative preparation and transportation of patients to and from areas meets the tight deadlines of the operating room schedule.
- Schedules surgical add-ons in the EPIC system, OR and Procedural areas for input on the operation room schedule. Must know which cases can be scheduled and during which hours, the substitution of cases and the utilization of specific rooms for specific cases. Schedule emergent, urgent, non-urgent cases for current and next day. This includes obtaining important clinical patient information required to book the case, ensuring that the correct case card is booked in the Epic system, and communicating with central processing to book a case cart.
- Rebooking and scheduling cases that are put on hold or canceled from the previous days due to overcapacity issues. Notifying surgeons, nursing teams, anesthesia teams and other involved perioperative areas that these cases are being canceled, rescheduled, or delayed.
- Keeps nurses and physicians informed of the progress of the schedule, alerts them to actual or potential delays, cancelations, and notifies them of expected time or room changes. This includes alerting the appropriate nursing and anesthesia staff for additions or changes made to the schedule to ensure optimum utilization of operating rooms. Also notifies team leaders and all other appropriate personnel when cases are booked, changed, or cancelled, including but not limited to transplant teams, on-call, and trauma teams.
- Assists OR Nurses in maintaining data affecting daily OR changes for surgery and anesthesia. Also, assisting nursing staff with providing patient identification labels and wristbands as needed.
- Utilization of Microsoft Word to develop and send the Overnight Facilitator Report to Nursing and Anesthesia Leadership teams. This report is generated on the night shift and sent at 5:00am. The report highlights schedule changes throughout the overnight shift as well as important factors that contribute to the flow of the next morning starts, environmental issues, patient deaths, etc.
PACU Duties
1. Courteously greets patients and family members, completes all admission information for them upon arrival, correctly identifies each patient, places correct armband, and determines NPO status. Notifies appropriate nurse of the arrival of Day Surgery patients, Pre-op Holding of same day admissions and/or PACU of inpatient admissions from the Main OR.
2. Assigns patients to beds according to the plan set forth by the Nurse in Charge. Logs in all patients into Epic promptly, accurately for event times and length of stay ensuring correct statistical data and financial reimbursement.
3. Prepare patients charts for the next day, including but not limited to printing, wristbands, labels, and appropriate paperwork and stickers to prepare nursing staff to receive patients upon arrival to Pre-Op.
4. Ascertains that valuables are properly cared for.
5. Periodically and independently updates family as to patient’s status, changes and delays, and acts as general liaison among patient, family, and surgical staff.
6. Runs daily report from EPIC for next day reminder calls to place to all surgical patients.
7. Walks all out of OR patients to their appointment destinations prior to surgery (Mammography, Nuclear Medicine, CT Scan, Radiology).
Qualifications
Education
High School Diploma or Equivalent required
Can this role accept experience in lieu of a degree?
No
Experience
2-3 years of relevant experience preferred
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
High School Diploma or Equivalent required
Can this role accept experience in lieu of a degree?
No
Experience
2-3 years of relevant experience preferred
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Proficiency with all Office Suite, Knowledge of office operations and standards and understanding of office procedures including filing, copying, scanning, printing and faxing.
- Ability to use phone system and manage more non-routine phone calls and solve routine issues as appropriate.
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience and talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents, to correspond and communicate with others clearly and effectively (including composing/editing e-mail, memos and letters), and to take complete and accurate messages.
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Well organized and good time management skills to manage multiple tasks effectively, follow established protocols, and work within systems.
Additional Job Details (if applicable)
Remote Type
Work Location
Scheduled Weekly Hours
Employee Type
Work Shift
EEO Statement:
Mass General Brigham Competency Framework
At Mass General Brigham, our competency framework defines what effective leadership “looks like” by specifying which behaviors are most critical for successful performance at each job level. The framework is comprised of ten competencies (half People-Focused, half Performance-Focused) and are defined by observable and measurable skills and behaviors that contribute to workplace effectiveness and career success. These competencies are used to evaluate performance, make hiring decisions, identify development needs, mobilize employees across our system, and establish a strong talent pipeline.
