What does a nurse coordinator do?
A nurse coordinator is primarily in charge of overseeing all nurses and their activities in a hospital or clinic. Their responsibilities include managing and rotating schedules, assessing nurse performance, organizing nursing programs, and developing strategies to optimize procedures. They may also assist patients and answer inquiries, studying their conditions to develop specific care plans to suit their needs. Furthermore, as a nurse coordinator, it is essential to lead and encourage teams to reach goals, all while implementing the facility's policies and regulations.
Nurse coordinator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nurse coordinator resumes:
- Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
- Assume administrative oversight of medical, pediatric and chemical dependency rehabilitation units during leaves of absence or vacancy.
- Communicate with patients regarding test results and plan after participating in review of diagnostic testing results with attending physician.
- Organize and schedule patients for multiple testing procedures and responsible for extensive patient teaching regarding all aspects of fertility and infertility.
- Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
- Contribute to the telemetry and radiology departments
- Monitor telemetry and respond to calls to life-threatening emergencies.
- Provide clinical review according to Interqual criteria to ensure third party reimbursement.
- Manage surgical recovery patients including vascular, ENT, GI urological and neurological cases, coronary bypass surgery patients.
Nurse coordinator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Nurse Coordinators are proficient in Patients, CPR, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Nurse Coordinators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 27%
Organized and scheduled patients for multiple testing procedures and responsible for extensive patient teaching regarding all aspects of fertility and infertility.
- CPR, 6%
Certified instructor for CPR classes.
- Customer Service, 5%
Conducted job functions in a manner which consistently promoted a high level of customer service in a residential pediatric psychiatric facility.
- Data Collection, 3%
Assist in accurate data collection and ordering all protocol requirements and obtaining results.
- Direct Patient Care, 3%
Provided direct patient care to assigned patient population including medication and vaccine administration.
- Quality Care, 3%
Develop new policies/procedures and guidelines to improve quality care.
Common skills that a nurse coordinator uses to do their job include "patients," "cpr," and "customer service." You can find details on the most important nurse coordinator responsibilities below.
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a nurse coordinator to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "registered nurses must be able to communicate effectively with patients in order to understand their concerns and evaluate their health conditions." Additionally, a nurse coordinator resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "support and education to staff related topics communication with physican and families skills used daily computer data entry,electronic medical record"
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform nurse coordinator duties is compassion. Nurse coordinators responsibilities require that "registered nurses should be caring and empathetic when working with patients." Nurse coordinators also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided crisis intervention and triage services to clients in compassionate and responsible manner, serving individually tailored services to clients. "
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for nurse coordinators to perform their duties. For an example of how nurse coordinator responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "registered nurses must be precise because they must ensure that patients get the correct treatments and medicines at the right time." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a nurse coordinator: "oriented agency rn's to hospital policies, jcaho and government regulations. ".
Emotional stability. A big part of what nurse coordinators do relies on "emotional stability." You can see how essential it is to nurse coordinator responsibilities because "registered nurses need emotional resilience and the ability to cope with human suffering, emergencies, and other stressors." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical nurse coordinator tasks: "coordinate oncology care for approximately 200 patients in a medical oncology practice focusing on symptom management and providing emotional support. "
Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in nurse coordinator job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what nurse coordinators do. Nurse coordinator responsibilities rely on this skill because "nurses often work with multiple patients who have a variety of health needs." You can also see how nurse coordinator duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "mentored them to provide outstanding customer service and exceed organizational goals and objectives, offering advice and instruction as needed. "
Physical stamina. Lastly, "physical stamina" is an important element of what a nurse coordinator does. Nurse coordinator responsibilities require this skill because "nurses should be comfortable performing physical tasks, such as lifting patients." This resume example highlights how nurse coordinator duties rely on this skill: "coordinate other services needed; physical/occupational therapy, social services, home health aid. "
The three companies that hire the most nurse coordinators are:
- Carle Foundation121 nurse coordinators jobs
- UPMC44 nurse coordinators jobs
- RWJBarnabas Health36 nurse coordinators jobs
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Compare different nurse coordinators
Nurse coordinator vs. Oncology registered nurse
An oncology registered nurse is in charge of taking care of patients with cancer. Their responsibilities revolve around coordinating with physicians to devise particular care plans for patients, monitoring their daily condition and progress, administering medicine, preparing nutritious meals, and evaluating treatment results, reporting to the physician should there be any issues. Furthermore, as an oncology registered nurse, it is vital to provide physical and emotional support to patients as the treatments tend to be stressful and emotionally tolling.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, nurse coordinator responsibilities require skills like "cpr," "customer service," "data collection," and "quality care." Meanwhile a typical oncology registered nurse has skills in areas such as "acute care," "hematology," "ons," and "patient outcomes." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Oncology registered nurses earn the highest salaries when working in the health care industry, with an average yearly salary of $63,612. On the other hand, nurse coordinators are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $80,569.The education levels that oncology registered nurses earn slightly differ from nurse coordinators. In particular, oncology registered nurses are 5.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a nurse coordinator. Additionally, they're 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nurse coordinator vs. Psychiatric nurse
A Psychiatric Nurses role is to supervise the medication and treatment of patients diagnosed with mental disabilities, illnesses, or distresses. They have an essential role in the administration of psychiatric treatment and care.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real nurse coordinator resumes. While nurse coordinator responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer service," "data collection," "emr," and "critical care," psychiatric nurses use skills like "mental illness," "therapeutic interventions," "psychiatric care," and "chemical dependency."
Psychiatric nurses earn a lower average salary than nurse coordinators. But psychiatric nurses earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $63,449. Additionally, nurse coordinators earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $80,569 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Psychiatric nurses tend to reach similar levels of education than nurse coordinators. In fact, they're 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for nurse coordinators in the next 3-5 years?
Lisa Rebeschi Ph.D.
Associate Dean of the School of Nursing Professor of Nursing, Quinnipiac University
Nurse coordinator vs. Registered nurse
The primary responsibilities of a registered nurse involve caring for a variety of patients, from ill and injured to those who are healthy and wanting to stay that way. Nurses have different specialization and work with particular patients, such as newborn babies or those who are suffering from particular medical conditions. They work on different settings which includes hospital, outpatient facility, rehabilitation center, nursing home, dialysis center, home healthcare agency, and other offices. They can administer medications, wound care, and other aids or treatment plan. They also conduct medical tests, interpret the results, and monitor patients' recovery and progress.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, nurse coordinators are more likely to have skills like "customer service," "data collection," "community resources," and "medical assistants." But a registered nurse is more likely to have skills like "bls," "acute care," "surgery," and "patient safety."
Registered nurses earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $64,500. Nurse coordinators earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $80,569.registered nurses typically earn lower educational levels compared to nurse coordinators. Specifically, they're 6.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nurse coordinator vs. Consultant nurse
A Consultant Nurse is responsible for providing healthcare consultations and technical advice to patients. This job also involves consulting with nursing groups about professional and educational problems.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between nurse coordinators and consultants nurse, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a nurse coordinator might have more use for skills like "data collection," "direct patient care," "critical care," and "compassion." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of consultants nurse require skills like "acute care," "long-term care," "collaborative process," and "ltc. "
Consultants nurse enjoy the best pay in the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $75,199. For comparison, nurse coordinators earn the highest salary in the health care industry.The average resume of consultants nurse showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to nurse coordinators. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 4.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 1.4%.Types of nurse coordinator
Updated January 8, 2025
