Quality Management - Patient Safety Specialist

Guam Regional Medical City•Dededo, GU

About The Position

The Patient Safety Specialist supports department and program leadership through education and project management to improve quality and operational clinical initiatives, promote innovation, and develop best practices for clinical excellence, service excellence, and patient safety. The role coordinates with managers and staff on process improvements intended to reduce clinical errors and other factors contributing to unintended adverse patient outcomes. The specialist leads safety assessments, coordinates performance improvement committee activities, educates practitioners about system-based causes of medical error, consults with management and staff, and communicates literature-based strategies for safety and performance improvement. The position operates within standardized procedures and precedents under the supervision of the department director or program manager.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in nursing.
At least 4 years of healthcare experience, including 2 years in the relevant discipline or program.
Current licensure in the Territory of Guam.
Current Healthcare Provider BLS Certification.
Microsoft Office skills, including MS-Outlook.
Competent database management skills.
Ability to exercise judgment to analyze and evaluate situations and reach conclusions.
Ability to work within generally defined policies, procedures, and goals under the guidance of the Director.
Teamwork skills.
Problem-solving skills.
Excellent communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in nursing.
5 or more years of healthcare experience, including 2 years in the relevant discipline or program.

Responsibilities

Lead and support development, implementation, and maintenance of the hospital’s Patient Safety Plan.
Analyze patient care systems, processes, and outcomes with department and unit managers to assess whether care is safe, appropriate, efficient, and effective.
Promote timely resolution of actual and potential patient safety concerns.
Gather data on patient-related errors from departments and units.
Investigate actual and potential patient safety events, assisting managers with cause analyses through medical record reviews, interviews, physical inspections, and other means.
Ensure event reports are submitted in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations.
Review actual and near-miss events with physicians, senior leaders, managers, and frontline staff to identify system vulnerabilities and process-improvement opportunities.
Facilitate intensive reviews, debriefings, and root cause analyses for patient safety events, including never events, sentinel events, and near misses, and help ensure resulting actions are assigned and implemented.
Identify concerning trends and process vulnerabilities, and report them to the COO and Patient Safety Committee.
Recommend changes, policies, and programs to prevent future errors.
Lead patient safety improvements and coordinate with the PI/LSS Specialist, as needed, to form teams that analyze system vulnerabilities and error data and develop corrective action plans.
Conduct proactive risk assessments using failure mode and effects analyses (FMEA) at least once every 18 months.
Oversee and ensure accountability for unit and department managers’ monitoring and reporting of National Patient Safety Goals established by The Joint Commission, including policy and procedure review and revision as needed.
Lead weekly Patient Safety/Leadership Rounds and ensure units and departments create action plans to address identified safety deficiencies.
Educate and consult on patient safety, including administering a culture of safety survey.
Train new employees on patient safety and provide staff education during annual safety fairs.
Serve as a role model in fostering an organization-wide culture of patient safety.
Interface with risk management and legal counsel as needed.
Lead the organization’s patient safety committee and participate in other hospital committees requiring patient safety expertise.
Support hospital-wide performance improvement through data gathering and analysis, and submit data for quality dashboards and board reports.
Post patient safety tips on the hospital intranet at least monthly.
Work cooperatively with other quality management department members to meet common goals.