RN Patient Safety Specialist

Overview

Under the general direction of the Director of Patient Safety and Accreditation, the Patient Safety RN Specialist is responsible for advancing the patient safety program in it's mission to eliminate avoidable patient harm.

He / she will perform daily screening, initial triage and referral of safety reported through the Vigilanz reporting system.

He / she investigates patient safety events through expeditious fact gathering (medical chart review and interviews), and facilitates improvement projects, as assigned by the Director of Patient Safety and Accreditation.

He / she provides the Patient Safety, Risk, and Quality teams with clinical expertise and creates objective and reproducible summaries of findings when investigating a safety event or process.

The incumbent will assist the Director of Patient Safety and Accreditation in the oversight of ongoing analysis to ensure sustainability of action items and reduce risk of patient harm.

The Patient Safety Specialist RN builds and maintains strong relationships with NAH colleagues, department leaders, clinical risk and quality teams, and the patient safety organization in support of clinical excellence and patient outcomes.

This position will work in a collaborative manner across NAH's ambulatory clinics and inpatient settings to support patient safety initiatives.

He / she is a team player who works well with minimal supervision to coordinate, implement, and manage tasks as assigned.

Excellent communication skills are required for work with operational leadership and frontline staff. Flexibility is required to adapt and manage shifting priorities.

Responsibilities

Operations and Investigation

• Performs initial screening and referral of safety events reported through the safety event reporting system and escalates urgent patient safety issues to the System Director of Patient Safety and Accreditation and / or Clinical Risk Manager.
• Facilitates the safety event triage meeting and assist with collaborative referral and assignation of safety event classification.
• Performs review of clinical documentation in the electronic medical record and performs other forms of fact gathering to ensure appropriate safety event referrals, follow-up, and loop closure.
• Performs safety event reviews, including root cause analysis at the direction of the Patient Safety, Quality, and Risk teams.
• Employs process improvement techniques, systems thinking, knowledge of human factors, and the principles of Highly Reliable Organizations (HROs) in the creation of action plans designed to prevent recurrence of patient safety events.
• Promotes the Patient Safety Program through presentations, colleague training, and applicable committees.
• Performs Failure Modes and Effects Analysis as assigned by the patient safety, quality, and risk teams.

Safety Culture

• Identifies trends in reported safety events and compiles meaningful and actionable safety program data, for dissemination to department and senior leaders.
• Utilizes the Joint Commission and other resources such as the ECRI Patient Safety Organization (PSO) to inform proactive rounding, and collaborate with department leaders in deployment of best patient safety practices, as well as review, prioritization, and creation of action plans based on department-level patient safety event data.

Documentation

• Compiles objective event summaries and timelines, to inform our stakeholders to assist in their determination if a deviation from intended process or system vulnerability exists.
• Uploads updates on safety event reviews, root cause analysis, and associated action plans and loop closure, to the safety event reporting system.

Compliance / Safety

• If required for position, ensures all certifications and / or licenses are up-to-date and valid prior to expiration dates.
• Completes all company mandatory modules and required job specific training in the specified time frame.
• Responsible for reporting any safety related incident in a timely fashion through the Vigilanz system; attends all safety related training programs;

performs work in a safe manner; monitors work environment for possible safety issues and ensures others are also performing work in a safe manner.

Responsible for maintaining up-to-date knowledge of cybersecurity trends, developments, best practices and regulatory changes.

Qualifications

Education

Bachelor's of Science in Nursing - Required

Masters Degree - Preferred

Certification & Licensures

Active, unrestricted RN License from any state (AZ preferred) Required

RCA2 IHI Training within 1 year of hire - Required

Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt - Preferred

Certification in Patient Safety - Preferred

Lean Six Sigma or other process improvement methodology - Preferred

Experience

Minimum of 3-5 years acute care as an RN - Required

Process improvement and / or project management - Preferred

Healthcare is a rapidly changing environment and technology is integrated into almost all aspects of patient care. Computers and other electronic devices are utilized across the organization and throughout each department.

Colleagues must have an understanding of computers, and competence in using computers and basic software programs.