Patient Safety Officer Full Time Days

DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital, Michigan’s first Level I Trauma Center, helped pioneer the evolution of emergency medicine and currently has one of the busiest and most well-equipped emergency departments anywhere. The first and largest verified burn center in the state is at Receiving, and it is one of only 43 in the nation. Receiving also offers the state’s leading 24/7 hyperbaric oxygen program, Metro Detroit’s first certified primary stroke center, and the nationally recognized and accredited DMC Rosa Parks Geriatric Center of Excellence.

Summary Description

The Patient Safety Officer has primary oversight of the facility-wide patient safety programs. This role directs others within the facility towards process improvements to support the reduction of medical/health care errors and other factors that contribute to unintended adverse patient outcomes. This practitioner provides leadership for safety assessments, coordinates the activities of the patient safety function or committee, educates other practitioners on the system-based cause for medical errors, consults with management and staff, and communicates literature-based ideas regarding effective patient safety strategies to others within the organization.

Investigates patient safety issues within the organization; attends or leads Root Cause Analysis, Focused Reviews and Intense Analysis; ensures compliance with audits and monitoring as defined in actin plans; notifies Risk Management of potential risk issues; revises and develops policies and procedures involving patient safety; oversees the creation, review and refinements of the scope of the Patient Safety Program on an annual basis.

Minimum Qualifications

1. Bachelor's degree required. Degree in a patient care related field preferred. J.D. or Master's degree in Nursing, Health Services, or Patient Safety preferred.

2. Three years of experience in the healthcare industry. Experience in quality/performance improvement and/or patient safety department preferred.

3. Experience leading interdisciplinary initiatives in process improvement or directly improving the reliability of healthcare delivery at the point of care.

4. Certified Professional Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) preferred.

Skills Required

1. Analytical ability and comprehensive knowledge base to identify opportunities for improvement and problem resolution, to evaluate clinical improvement procedures/techniques, to conduct proactive and retrospective root cause analyses and to analyze and interpret a variety of data.

2. Interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills necessary for contact with executives and physician leadership to obtain and interpret a variety of information based on knowledge of departmental practices, DMC policies, programs and regulatory requirements. Communication skills to work with a team of support personnel from multiple departments to facilitate communication and interaction with all levels of hospital personnel, medical staff and external agencies and organizations.

3. Teaching skills to develop and implement medical/patient safety and quality improvement educational materials/programs for staff at all levels.

4. Leadership skills to direct and facilitate others towards objectives that contribute to the success of the improvement initiatives.

5. Organizational and project management skills in order to effectively coordinate all aspects of the project.

6. Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.

7. Presentation skills including the ability to articulate ideas and plans to all types of audiences.

8. Technical knowledge of the principles of clinical process improvement, including reduction in practice variation, the role of feedback to clinicians, the interdisciplinary nature of improvement and the evolution of health information to support improvement.

9. Facilitation skills and experience in leading teams through process improvement and change initiatives