Working as a clinical coordinator is a career that requires an in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry, interpersonal skills and leadership skills. Typically, individuals will work in a medical center and will oversee its day-to-day activities. While the exact job duties of a clinical coordinator may slightly deviate depending upon the workplace, the fundamental responsibilities remain the same. These include managing staff, assuring adequate patient care, assisting with certain patients, communicating with different departments and attending periodic meetings.
One of the primary duties of a clinical coordinator is managing staff and maintaining a professional work environment. For example, she may be responsible for making staff schedules, assigning patients to staff members and general supervision. If problems arise, it's up to her to deal with them and maintain a smooth work flow. As a result, effectively performing this job requires a person to be organized, a good decision maker and be able to interact with employees and patients.
Assuring adequate patient care is also extremely important and vital to the success of a clinical coordinator. A large part of this job revolves around overseeing employee performance and ensuring that it meets regulations. For example, this person must make sure that patients receive correct medications on time and that rehabilitation sessions are performed as scheduled. This is an important responsibility, as failure to stay on top of these things could jeopardize patient health.
Along with this, it's the clinical coordinator's job to also assist staff members when dealing with problematic patients. Since some patients may require special attention or may be difficult to deal with, it's up to her to ensure that those needs are met. This means that she might spend some one-on-one time with certain patients or aid staff members when a patient is causing trouble.
Another aspect of this job is communicating with the different departments of a facility. Since many medical centers have multiple departments that focus on different areas of patient care, it's important that all care givers stay on the same page. Consequently, it's usually up to a clinical coordinator to go between those different departments and keep information flowing. Doing so helps optimize patient care and prevents mistakes from being made.
Attending periodic meetings with other supervisors is an additional part of the job. In order for a facility to function effectively, it's important for higher-ups to work together. During these meetings, information like the company budget, new technology and pressing issues are often discussed. To get the most out of these meetings, a clinical coordinator needs to be a team player and have sound interpersonal skills.