Nurse Laison

glasgow3 · Feb 5, 2009

Ok, here is the scoop on nurse liaison positions: They are often "sold" to the uninitiated as primarily a position which evaluates patients for appropriateness to the particular level of care of your facility. In reality, nothing could be farther than the truth. Census development is the true name of the game. Clinical competence can be helpful but it is clearly secondary to your success or failure.

If your facility has the right doctors as directors, the right proximity to potential "feeder" facilities, is not in an ultra-competitive market with too many beds, has at least a decent reputation in the medical community and the community at large....your marketing efforts with the docs and area case managers might be enough to fill some extra beds beyond the census base and the job can actually be kinda fun.

But look out!!! Many facilities have some significant obstacles to overcome to even maintain a halfway workable census and you will have precious little time to overcome them. These are the facilities which have recurring openings. Do not be deluded into thinking that all the previous incumbents were lazy, didn't know what they were doing, just weren't good at building relationships etc etc.

If you are thinking about pursuing such a position it is absolutely imperative that you do some research. You need to know who your potential employer's competition is, where they get their patients and why they get them.

goldrush · Feb 5, 2009

Thank you so very much for your time and indepth answer. I really appreciate it. I will consider all you've said and try to do some research to see if this is something I want to pursue, in the mean time I'll keep my eyes open for more traditional jobs as the liaison jobs seem to have been open for a long time.