So you want to be an ED director?

see also:

• welcome to the OzEMedicine Wiki

• an ED Director requires many skills and attributes in addition to being a respected EP clinician
• an ability to be a dynamic respected leader is critical
• there is a duality of simultaneously advocating and representing the hospital and the executive team as well as doing so for ED staff and patients
• the ED Director should have a firm understanding of the ED IT patient management system and the underlying data so they can be efficient with targeted and appropriate data extraction
• an excellent foundation in MS Excel is required to ensure the data can be analysed and presented in an effective manner
• excellent people skills are required to ensure the many people conflicts can be addressed and preferably, prevented
• knowing what is appropriate to be delegated is important - those areas where the ED Director will be held particularly accountable for perhaps should not be delegated unless there is great confidence to do otherwise

• ED administrative assistant
• ED medical team
• ED nursing team
• ED clerical team
• ED allied team
• hospital executive, in particular, your line managers
• hospital legal team
• radiology dept
• pathology dept
• pharmacy
• infection control
• critical care services
• finance department
• payroll office
• information technology
• inpatient unit teams
• research department
• mental health service
• ambulance service
• police
• local hospitals
• local general practitioners
• department of health
• coroner's office
• ACEM
• state ED Directors' group
• state auditor general office

• ED medical staff management including:
  • budget and EFT
  • recruiting
  • credentialing and contract management
  • rosters
  • time sheets
  • leave management including conference leave to ensure excess conference leave is not taken and the ED will not be left with inadequate staffing
  • sick leave management and replacement
  • detailed understanding of staff awards and EBAs
  • performance appraisals including ensuring mandatory competencies and excess leave are maintained
  • conflict resolution
  • staff roles
  • occupational safety
  • general liaison and communication to disseminate information to staff
  • workforce planning
• ED systems optimisation including patient flow, safety and quality of care
  • review of models of care
  • future state planning
  • align rosters with patient demand
  • review and optimisation of KPI performance
  • monitor and address adverse events (Riskman notifications, M&M meeting outcomes, quality committees, etc)
  • develop business cases for patient care improvements including significant new equipment or models of care
  • medicolegal case oversight
  • critical incident management
  • data audits
  • extract and analyse data to create charts and reports and inform advice on models of care optimisation
• represent ED on hospital and government committees or workshops
  • health service workshops
  • patient flow committee
  • quality committee
  • Heads Of Unit meetings
  • IT systems user groups
  • occupational violence committee
  • mental health, ambulance, police liaison committees
  • data audit committees
• sign off on documents
  • time sheets
  • staff contract requisition forms
  • staff leave forms and conference requests
  • new or updated hospital policies and procedures
  • research requests which involve the ED
  • business cases
  • ED patient post-discharge data corrections