by Mark Miranda
 

It is time to acknowledge an unsung hero in the infrastructure of care delivery: the role of the staffing coordinator. The overall responsibility of a staffing coordinator is to ensure adequate and competent staff to meet the needs of a department. With the healthcare labor shortage, the focus in the "day in the life" of a manager of a department is often spent on his/her staffing plan. With so many other issues on the table for managers, the staffing coordinator provides tremendous support to allow leaders to focus on other areas of their jobs.
Staffing coordinators accomplish their tasks by being specialists in many areas that include customer service, finance, negotiation, crisis management, human resources, reward and recognition, and process improvement. The staffing coordinator plays a pivotal role in managing labor dollars. Juggling productivity measures, skill mix overtime, and agency dollars is a feat that requires financial acumen applied on a daily basis. Trusting this individual's knowledge in this arena is imperative. She should be able to make sound decisions without being micromanaged, since there is a report to complete that documents the proof of these decisions.
The everyday life of this position is multifaceted. Someone who is a natural in this role makes it all come together. That person at Kessler is Pat Brodecki. She performs the responsibility of staffing the Nursing Units in our hospital, a 130 bed community facility, with three inpatient units, an ED, and the Perioperative areas.
Pat's skill in meeting staffing needs is due to the relationships that she builds and nurtures, and her understanding of the balance between work and the personal lives of our staff. She makes rounds on the units when there is a shift vacancy, so that she can "make a deal" on a face-to-face basis. Although she knows not to call a person because of a previous commitment his/her life, the employee calls her on a day off to offer to help.
Pat has been part of the Kessler family for 3 years. Her performance in this position was the impetus to acknowledge the importance of this role in our success in providing quality care. We start out everyday with a staffing plan to meet the needs of the customers who use Kessler for their healthcare needs, and, on a daily basis, that plan changes. Pat's ability to revise this plan with skill and a smile makes her a valuable member of the Kessler team.