Job Description
The Patient Safety Program Manager (PSPM) reflects the mission, vision, and values of Northwestern Medicine, adheres to the organization’s Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines, and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.
Responsible for planning and coordinating the overall operations of the Patient Safety program in coordination with and at the direction of the Manager, Patient Safety, NMHC. Coordinates and leads patient safety endeavors and is primarily responsible for proactive patient safety surveillance, leading patient safety initiatives, overseeing adverse event follow-up improvements, and complying with patient safety related standards monitored by relevant external agencies. This position will advance the use of patient safety strategies and high reliability to achieve key organizational goals in quality and patient safety. The Program Manager closely partners with administrative, physician, nursing, ancillary, and operational leadership to advance the patient safety agenda through the development and implementation of patient safety plans and strategies that facilitate the achievement of strategic organizational goals.
Responsibilities:
- Develop strong working relationships and demonstrate a positive attitude in all workforce interactions.
- Demonstrate and teach patient safety, high reliability, culture of safety, and improvement methodologies.
- Coach and develop staff to optimal professional effectiveness and engagement.
- Mentor, train, and orient staff in patient safety as directed.
- Coordinate components of graduate and medical school patient safety education programs, as relevant.
- Collaborate with senior leadership and other departments in development of strategic and operational programs in support of the NMHC strategic plan.
- Lead, support, and facilitate the use of tools and implementation of systems/processes that identify patient safety risks, promote a culture of safety, reduce patient harm, and improve high-reliability healthcare.
- Lead, coordinate, and facilitate proactive risk assessment (e.g., Failure Mode & Effects Analysis)
- Facilitate and participate in causal analyses.
- Develop RCA and ACA action plans in collaboration with risk management, and clinical and operational leadership.
- Identify actions, measures and interventions that address root and apparent causes.
- Monitor and support timely and effective implementation.
- Coordinate the activities of relevant patient safety committees, including, but not limited to, organizing meeting agendas and follow-up activities, overseeing, and maintaining applicable dashboard(s), developing, and tracking patient safety related goals, and disseminating information to relevant stakeholders.
- Consistently meet targets on projects and achieve measurable results.
- Conduct detailed and accurate analyses of data at NMHC and external to NMHC (e.g., benchmarks, comparative data) to identify trends, safety risks, best practices, and mitigation strategies.
- Share patient safety lessons learned and safety alerts across NMHC and coordinate collaborative NMHC patient safety efforts. Coordinate communication with frontline staff and other relevant stakeholders regarding improvements related to adverse events.
- Maintain collaborative relationships with other teams/departments including, but not limited to, Risk Management, Clinical Quality, Process Improvement, Information Technology, Accreditation and Compliance, and Nursing.
- Continuously evaluate and improve the patient safety program based on internal needs and external requirements and standards.
- Collaborate with Accreditation and Compliance to coordinate organizational responses to regulatory standards related to patient safety, including but not limited to TJC’s National Patient Safety Goals & Sentinel Alerts.
- Coordinate serious reportable events (formerly known as “never events”) and sentinel event communication and follow-up.
- Participate in the development, review, and revision of hospital policies and procedures that affect patient safety.
- Responsible for self-development and professional engagement, including, but not limited to, knowledge of the literature, attendance at professional meetings, preparation of manuscripts, submission of posters and presentations at professional conferences, and involvement with local and national task forces or associations as relevant.
Qualifications
Required:
- Bachelor’s degree in nursing or allied health, or master’s degree in relevant field
- Minimum 5 years relevant workforce experience in quality, patient safety, or other relevant field (e.g., human factors engineering) with at least one year in the healthcare setting.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Excellent data management and analytic skills
- Experience in facilitating root cause analysis, failure mode effect analysis, and error investigations.
- Working knowledge of performance improvement framework (e.g., DMAIC) and application of analytic tools
Preferred:
- CPPS and/or CPHQ certification.
- If not currently certified, required within two years of employment.
Additional Information
Northwestern Medicine is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation or any other protected status.
Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits that provide employees with tools and resources to improve their physical, emotional, and financial well-being while providing protection for unexpected life events. Please visit our Benefits section to learn more.
