Patient Safety and Systems Improvement Specialist II

Lehigh Valley Health Network•Allentown, PA

14d•Onsite

About The Position

The Patient Safety and Systems Improvement Specialist advances the safety of healthcare delivery and clinical operations by strengthening system robustness and resilience. The role applies safety science principles, including Human Factors Engineering, systems engineering, and resilience engineering, to evaluate the complex interactions among people, technology, tasks, workflows, environments, and organizational conditions that influence processes, patient outcomes, and operational performance. In partnership with clinical, operational, and executive leadership, the specialist evaluates work systems and safety events to identify hazards and systemic vulnerabilities and mitigate clinical risk through reactive and proactive risk assessments that inform system redesign across the care continuum. The specialist conducts event analyses and prospective risk assessments; leads multidisciplinary improvement initiatives; applies human-centered design and work-system analysis; and facilitates simulation-based testing and cognitive-load assessments. The position also coaches staff and safety team members, communicates findings across the organization, and helps ensure that interventions are actionable, sustainable, owned, tracked for effectiveness, and aligned with regulatory and accreditation standards. This is an onsite, day-shift position at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest. The work schedule is Monday to Friday, 0800 to 1630.

Requirements

Associate’s degree in a clinical discipline, such as Nursing, Advanced Practice, Respiratory Therapy, Dietary/Nutrition, or Physical/Occupational Therapy.
One year of prior clinical experience in an applicable discipline, with demonstrated exposure to patient safety, quality, or process improvement work.
Three years of relevant clinical and/or safety-related experience.
CPPS (Certified Professional in Patient Safety) certification from the Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety within two years.
Ability to lift and carry 25 pounds; frequent sitting, standing, and keyboard use. Patient care providers may also need to perform role-specific activities such as kneeling, bending, squatting, and CPR.

Responsibilities

Evaluate patient safety events and near-misses using structured methodologies, including ACA/RCA2/RCA3, Common Cause Analysis, cognitive interviewing, and event re-enactments, to identify contributing factors, hazards, and system vulnerabilities.
Conduct proactive and prospective risk assessments, including FMEA/FMECA, Prospective Risk Assessment, and Success Cause Analysis, to identify latent risks and hazards before harm occurs.
Lead and facilitate multidisciplinary improvement initiatives using methods such as Kaizen events, value stream mapping, workout sessions, and agile methodology to redesign processes and reduce preventable harm.
Apply resilience engineering principles to assess organizational adaptive capacity and how frontline teams manage complexity, and design systems that better anticipate, monitor, respond to, and learn from emerging risks.
Coach and mentor staff and safety team members on patient safety science and improvement methodologies, and communicate findings and progress to stakeholders from frontline staff to senior leadership.
Partner with clinical, operational, and executive leadership to prioritize risks and translate findings into actionable, sustainable interventions with clear ownership and effectiveness tracking, aligned with NPSG, TJC, and CMS standards.
Apply Human Factors Engineering and human-centered design principles, including cognitive ergonomics, card sorting, ethnography, and journey mapping, to evaluate and redesign clinical workflows, technologies, and environments.
Conduct contextual inquiry and direct field observation to understand frontline work and the gap between work-as-imagined and work-as-done, informing system redesign.
Analyze work systems using qualitative research techniques such as focused group analysis, contextual inquiry, and journey mapping; use SEIPS-based interaction analyses to understand how people, tools, tasks, environments, and organizational conditions influence processes and patient outcomes.
Facilitate simulation-based testing, including in situ simulation, tabletop exercises, heuristic evaluations, Monte Carlo simulation, and card sorting, as well as cognitive-load assessments such as NASA-TLX and SUS, to identify usability issues and validate interventions before implementation.