Patient Safety Specialist

The Patient Safety Specialist is a highly visible position with Advocate Health Care that was created as a result of executive management’s desire to mitigate unintentional patient harm, and to reduce liability costs and exposure by reducing clinical risks. Patient safety continues to gain increased importance as a top system priority from the perspective of health outcomes, financial performance, and the need to meet increasing expectations nationally. The Patient Safety Specialist will provide support to the Patient Safety Multi-site Director or Patient Safety Manager in the implementation of a robust patient safety program at select hospital sites. The specialist will provide support to multiple sites within the region of the Multi-suite Director, either both on-site and remotely. This position will review highly confidential data to identify events that require investigation, and assist in the coding and management of the data to support site evaluation of safety program outcomes. The Patient Safety Specialist will conduct event investigations, primarily in the form of Apparent Cause Analyses, in concert with department managers, front line and medical staff. Management of patient safety data will be a major role of the Safety Specialist. This position will assist in the development and execution of complex clinical risk reduction initiatives, in particular those related to nursing or other clinical practice. The nursing or other clinical background of this individual allows breadth and flexibility in this role. The Patient Safety Specialist will collaborate with other key divisions within the organization, including Risk Management, Supply Chain, IT and Clinical Engineering to name a few. The Patient Safety Specialist will also provide education on relevant patient safety topics.

Major Responsibilities

• Patient safety event investigation (30%)
• Facilitates the timely investigation of select safety events and near miss events through the implementation of apparent cause analysis (ACA) and use of other investigative tools. Will participate in investigations at sites within their region.
• Assists the site safety leaders within their region with completing chart reviews, interviews and review of evidence based literature to support the cause analysis process.
• Conducts confidential interviews with those involved in the events in order to document the timeline of events and causal factors.
• Effectively facilitates the cause analysis process in a manner that facilitates trust and transparency.
• Reviews ACA’s completed by site managers, mentoring leaders to ensure an effective investigation and identification of corrective actions.
  
  

• Supports a site culture of high reliability through involvement in the site's Patient Safety program (20%)
• Authors articles for newsletters or publication in support of patient safety and high reliability.
• Designs and gives presentation to various committees regarding patient safety and high reliability.
• Serves as a site patient safety resource to various committees or teams related to care delivery.
• Maintains alignment of site work with system standards.
• Establishes and maintains effective relationships with associates and physicians in order to influence and advance site culture, working to ensure safe practices and behaviors are in practice by the front line.
• Teaches the Culture of Safety presentation to new associates in their initial orientation.
• Supports implementation of the site patient safety program including tools that promote reliability. These include but are not limited to participation in daily huddle, safety rounding, safety recognition, just culture, safety coach and physician champion programs among others.
  
  

• Patient safety data and report management (30%)
• Reviews reported patient safety events on a daily basis and recommends those that require investigation. May be asked to review reports from multiple sites.
• Appropriately codes individual cases to facilitate the collection of aggregate data for purposes of program design and goal setting.
• Ensures timely updates to the system safety data repositories in order to facilitate site and system data collection and analysis.
• Aggregates site patient safety data to identify trends and actionable items to advance site culture.
• Assists in preparing site reports in the form of tracking, trending, graphs or analyses regarding safety program outcomes.
  
  

• Support of the site’s corrective actions resulting from event investigation.
• Serves as a resource to managers on effective corrective action design to minimize event recurrence.
• Assists in tracking corrective actions to ensure timely completion and implementation.
• Participates in the audits of effectiveness of key corrective actions.
  

Licensure

• Nurse, Registered (RN) OR Physical Therapist OR Pharmacist, Registered
  
  

Education/Experience Required

• Bachelor’s degree in nursing or allied health field
• Advanced degree in a health-related field preferred OR equivalent experience Minimum of 4 years clinical experience
  
  

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Required

• Sound oral and written communication skills sufficient to interact effectively with and influence associates and medical staff
• Sound organizational skills; effectively manages shifting priorities
• Demonstrated ability to problem solve and analyze procedure and process changes
• Self-directed, works with indirect and (at times) direct supervision
• Sound critical thinking and analytical skills utilized in the cause analysis process
• Proficiency with MS Office (Word, Excel and Power Point)
• Political sensitivity to the dynamic interplay that occurs between departments, physicians, associates and management.
• Current RN or Allied Health License
  
  

Physical Requirements And Working Conditions

• Candidate must be willing to attend, onsite & offsite, department meetings and educational activities.
• Maintain proficiency in department’s software computer program.
• Able to travel to other Advocate sites within their designated region, and corporate meetings as appropriate, generally monthly.
• Candidate must be able to perform various physical tasks with a high degree of proficiency, such as articulating, hearing, viewing, and walking throughout the hospital.
• Flexible hours according to customer needs
• Ability to work under stressful and difficult conditions.
• 25 pounds occasionally
  
  

This job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of the incumbent. It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the incumbent. Incumbent may be required to perform other related duties.