A Clinical Liaison

What is a clinical liaison? I'm not exactly sure. What I gathered is it is a multi faceted, multi task, multi skilled; do everything for everybody kind of job that nurses do. One aspect is to assess referrals to see if they are suitable for an LTAC- long term acute care, length of stay about a month. These patients are SICK! Many will be on ventilators or have multiple wounds. They are people who are exhausting their stay at the hospital= run out of eligible funds. They are people that with more time and good care may get better.

That means dealing with families who are grief stricken and upset. It means dealing with doctors, nurses, case managers, and entire health care teams to find the best solution for these patients to get what they need. It means making everybody happy as much as possible. The challenges are to have the right answer when the hospital is trying to dump a bad candidate on you, and have them still continue to refer. Another challenge will be with families, if their loved one is so sick why do they have to move? And another scenario, most of these patients are sick enough to have about a 50% chance of recovery. Sometimes hospice will be better. Selling a "no" is probably the toughest but in hospice care you learn to say no often, gently. I have worked in hospice.

I will be one of the faces that represents the facility. I'll be recruiting with other health care personnel and facilities to let them know what we can do for their patients. It's sales, service, and health care all intermingled, lots of pieces and parts.

I just hope I will be good at it. I can be dumb for a smart girl, sometimes. Dumb with reading people between the lines and politics. I am very literal and straight forward. I can miss the upset person that is smiling at you and ready to get your job yanked. I've learned and am much better at it, but there is still the occasional unpleasant surprise.

The perks are great. I get to work Monday-Friday during the daytime. There is no CALL. I'll have a company phone, have to dress up pretty, and travel around, mileage reimbursed. I will be on a salary. When our team performs well we will get bonuses! Look out Colombia my whole family is coming! I won't ever be in a boring routine. I get to solve problems. I get to help people through a decision crisis and establish good relationships with everybody. I think it's perfect for me and I'm really nervous about doing well. But I can do all things through HIM who gives me strength.