Nursing Schedulers / Staffing Coordinators

A nursing scheduler, also known as a staffing coordinator or nursing coordinator, has a very important job because he / she is responsible for scheduling employees to ensure sufficient coverage of staff for all shifts within a healthcare facility. Specialties Management Article

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Nursing Schedulers / Staffing Coordinators

The nursing scheduler, also known as a staffing coordinator or nursing coordinator, is an extremely important person in most healthcare facilities that offer inpatient care. The nursing scheduler coordinates and provides nursing staff coverage to ensure that all shifts are staffed adequately.

Some nursing schedulers are responsible for keeping several units of midsized to large hospitals fully staffed, whereas other schedulers coordinate the staffing coverage for entire facilities such as smaller hospitals, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, and group homes. If the nursing scheduler fails to keep up with the minute details of his / her job, employees in the nursing department will almost certainly be working short-handed without enough teammates to properly care for the patients within the facility.

Duties

The nursing scheduler generates, manages and updates master schedules while making adjustments as needed according to budgetary constraints, census fluctuations, call-ins, and pre-planned leaves of absence. Additional duties include:

  • Reviewing requests for paid time off (PTO), vacation, maternity leave, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and unpaid leaves of absence
  • Fulfilling staffing vacancies in advance to ensure adequate coverage for all shifts
  • Keeping meticulous attendance records and assisting with the progressive disciplinary process if staff members accrue excessive absences and/or tardies
  • Communicating with unit managers and the director of nursing / chief nursing officer regarding floor orientation scheduling for newly hired employees in the nursing department
  • Checking time clock punch records against master schedules and noting the appropriate changes
  • Signing time correction forms for events such as missing meal periods or forgetting to clock in/out
  • Approving contracts with temporary staffing agencies who send nurses / nursing assistants to the facility
  • Utilizing computer software to prepare, change and update the master schedule

Some smaller organizations allow the nursing scheduler to actively participate in the process of interviewing, hiring, onboarding and orienting new employees.

Work Environment

Nursing schedulers normally work indoors in climate-controlled office settings. Some aspects of the job may involve infrequent twisting, bending and lifting of lightweight objects such as binders and reams of paper.

Educational Requirements

Registered nurses with active RN licensure are eligible to apply for open positions as nursing schedulers. Some healthcare facilities utilize licensed practical nurses (LPNs) as staffing coordinators, especially in the LTC industry and assisted living facilities. In addition, a number of organizations hire persons who lack nursing licensure into the nursing scheduler role.

Personal Attributes

Ideally, nursing schedulers should possess outstanding communication skills and solid interpersonal skills because they interact with managers, supervisors, nurses, nursing assistants, techs, and many other staff members on a daily basis. Nursing schedulers should be flexible with last-minute changes and fair when managing the needs of individual members of staff.

Salary

According to the SimplyHired website, the average salary for a nurse staffing coordinator is $54,000 per year. Salaries can vary substantially based on factors such as the company, geographic region, cost of living, experiential level, and specialty (long term care versus acute care).

Resources

Job Description: Nurse Staffing Coordinator

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TheCommuter

About TheCommuter, BSN, RN

TheCommuter, BSN, RN, CRRN is a longtime physical rehabilitation nurse who has varied experiences upon which to draw for her articles. She was an LPN/LVN for more than four years prior to becoming a Registered Nurse.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

Fascinating I give one of my assistant manager s 1 day a month in the office to do 4 weeks rosters for the ward. As the unit manager I approve all annual leave, follow-up on personal leave and submit vacancy gaps in the roster to the pool allocator.

When I was assistant manager I held the roster portfolio for 18 months

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

We have a Central Scheduling office with three employees that takes care of most of the hospital.They are not nurses. They are trained on the job. They do an awesome job.

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