Patient Safety Coordinator

Wellstar Health System•Austell, GA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

At Wellstar, the mission is to enhance the health and well-being of every person served. Wellstar is recognized for its contributions to the healthcare industry and people's lives. The Quality Improvement Team at Cobb Hospital is seeking a Patient Safety Coordinator. This role, under the leadership of the Quality and Safety Director or Manager, assists with the coordination and implementation of overall high reliability education and sustainment efforts. The goal is to create and foster a culture of quality and safety among WellStar facility team members, leaders, and physicians. Wellstar is one of Georgia’s largest and most integrated healthcare systems, providing personalized care. The company's mission is to enhance health and well-being, with a vision to deliver world-class healthcare every time, and values of compassion, excellence, and honoring every voice. Wellstar is recognized for its safety principles, addressing errors, and seeking patient feedback, earning accolades for advances in safety and quality. It has been featured on FORTUNE’s "100 Best Companies to Work For" list and Seramount 100 Best Companies list, fostering a culture as a Great Place to Work.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in healthcare or quality related field.
Minimum 1 year of experience in healthcare, nursing, or clinical practice.
Organizational and interpersonal skills with the ability to work independently as well as with a team.
Time management.
Excellent written and communication skills.
High degree of professionalism, discretion, and confidentiality.
Ability to build relationships and foster communication among stakeholders in clinical and non-clinical settings.
Skilled computer skills with Microsoft Office.
If RN or other clinical discipline, must be licensed.

Nice To Haves

Experience in high reliability and safety design principles.
Experience in patient safety.
Basic Life Support through the American Heart Association is preferred.
Certification in Professional Healthcare Quality is preferred.
Certification in Professional Certified Patient Safety (CPPS) is preferred.

Responsibilities

Implementing and providing input regarding the evaluation of patient safety and clinical quality improvement programs.
Assists with training, education development, and deployment of Safety-First program, including but not limited to: high reliability leadership methods; high reliability (Error Prevention) tools; Fair and Just Culture; and Peer Reliability (Safety) Coaches.
Reviews and updates policy and procedures.
Delivers patient safety education at all levels.
Develops strong relationships with key leaders and collaborates with System and Facility Safety & Quality Staff to build and maintain a culture of safety and learning environment.
Promotes a culture of safety by participating in system-level Culture of Safety Survey activities.
Provides input and assists with facility action planning efforts using the culture of safety survey results.
Supports facility participation in the Patient Safety Organization (PSO).
Supports and participates in review, analysis, reduction activities, and reporting of quality measures, including but not limited to Patient Safety Indicators (PSI), Healthcare Associated Conditions (HACs), and other measures as identified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Reviews facility safety event data and identifies issues/trends for focused improvement efforts.
Identifies safety issues through monitoring and reporting incidents.
Ensures timely investigation of patient safety issues.
Facilitates data collection, analysis, and presentation of patient safety trends to leaders as needed.
Participates in the safety event management/tracking for the facility.
Assists in the implementation of patient safety initiatives and harm reduction strategies.
Actively participates in the safety event classification process, including weekly classification activities.
Supports WellStars Root Cause Analysis process including, but not limited to investigation; medical record review; research of literature and industry best practices; interviews; creation of events and causal factors map; team facilitation; identification of root causes, corrective actions, measures of success; and associated monitoring, tracking, and follow-up of all components of the RCA process.
Supports the Apparent Cause Analysis (ACA) process and provides guidance to unit/department leaders as needed.
Recommends appropriate actions based on event cause analysis to the Patient Safety and Quality Team.
Actively participates in common cause analyses; creates and/or supports the development of patient safety related reports to department and system leadership.
Practices innovative design and systems thinking to improve measures of quality and safety.
Facilitates robust process improvement to support the reduction of preventable harm within the facility.
Assists in the development of measurement and patient safety improvement strategies.
Assists with the development of quality/safety reports for specific groups with Safety and Quality.
Supports hospital performance improvement strategies through problem assessment and education.
Maintains current working knowledge related to applicable laws, regulations, statues, and best practice literature that affect the Patient Safety Program, including Georgia Medical Board, Board of Nursing, The Joint Commission (TJC), AHRQs National Quality Forum-Serious Reportable Events (NQF-SRE) and HIPAA.
Serves as consultant and facilitator, as appropriate, regarding patient safety initiatives including, but not limited to sentinel event alerts, National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG), system goals.
Ensures adherence to regulatory standards.
Demonstrates responsibility in financial management, continuous quality improvement, institutional support and representation, and customer service.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Complies with all Wellstar Health System policies, standards of work, and code of conduct.