The Quality Improvement Program (QuIP) at UI Health Care has an opening for a full-time Lead Patient Safety Engineer.  The Lead Patient Safety Engineer is responsible for assessing, planning, implementing, and/or evaluating patient safety principles and practices throughout the University of Iowa Health Care.  The Lead Patient Safety Engineer is responsible for providing a planned, systematic approach to identifying, designing, measuring and monitoring patient safety in a complex organization.  The Lead Patient Safety Engineer gathers data detailing patient-related errors and conducts analysis for the organization.  They must develop strong, professional relationships with all members of the interdisciplinary care team and collaborate with leadership and staff to facilitate the successful integration of patient safety principles into current and future practice.

The Lead Patient Safety Engineer is responsible for supervising, mentoring and developing the Patient Safety Engineers in the Quality Improvement Program in partnership with the Director of the Quality Improvement Program.  

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:

• Excellent written, verbal communication and interpersonal skills.

• Self-directed with excellent time management and organizational skills.

• Ability to make quality, independent decisions.

• Strong attention to detail.

• Analytical and strong problem-solving skills.

• Ability to effectively analyze and synthesize information, communicating salient points to key stakeholders.

• Ability to work effectively and efficiently under tight deadlines, high volumes and multiple interruptions.

• Ability to maintain the strictest levels of confidentiality.

• Ability to listen to others.

• High-grade diplomatic skills to effectively negotiate for harmony.

• Flexible and adaptable to change.

• Competency in the use of a variety of computer hardware and software systems.

• Commitment to creating and contributing to a positive team culture

• Works collaboratively with the Chief Quality Officer (CQO) and the Director in the Quality Improvement Program to operationalize the vision and the work of the program for the hospital.

• Respect for the administrative hierarchy.

Characteristic Knowledge/Skills, Duties and Responsibilities: 

Knowledge:

• Knowledge of the Science of Patient Safety, high reliability, and just culture.

• Knowledge of change theories.

• Clinical knowledge of the patient population of responsibility based upon practical and theoretical knowledge.

• Knowledge of regulatory requirements related to University of Iowa Health Care.

• Knowledge of patient safety and quality improvement tools used to review, analyze and improve patient safety.

Skills:

• Demonstrates critical thinking skills.

• Proficiency in Epic.

• Strong organizational skills.

• Demonstrates adaptability and flexibility.

• Ability to weigh and manage priorities.

• Skilled at multi-tasking.

• Detail oriented.

• Skilled at synthesis and analysis.

• Ability to communicate with all levels of the organization.

• Customer service oriented.

• Creates well developed written and oral communications

• Understands and demonstrates behaviors that contribute to a positive team culture in assigned sections of QuIP and the larger program.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manages the incident reporting system.  Reviews all safety events that attribute to clinical areas of responsibility and other areas as needed/appropriate.  Ensures events are categorized correctly and have the correct level of harm assigned.  Ensures reviewers provide appropriate incident report follow up documentation in the system prior to closing out an event.  Completes concurrent event review, defined as closing out non-high harm events within 1 month of submission.

• Manages high harm event reviews that attribute to clinical areas of responsibility and other clinical areas as needed/appropriate.  Secures staff members perception of high harm events utilizing the standardized Qualtrics survey questions.  Presents high harm events, incorporating Qualtrics survey responses, at the Patient Safety Steering Committee (PSSC) on a weekly basis to discern next steps from committee members.  Provides input, guidance and direction, as appropriate, in the management of safety events.  

• Facilitates Comprehensive Systematic Analyses (CSAs) as directed by the PSSC and/or CQO, following QuIP Patient Safety Engineer Event Management Guidelines and The Joint Commission Sentinel Event policy.

• Facilitates Safety Oversight Team (SOT) meetings as directed by the PSSC and/or CQO.

• Attends Quality and Safety Oversight Subcommittee (QSOS) meetings to represent and answer questions related to CSA Action Plans.

• Develops and updates educational incident reporting and safety content for all staff members at UI Health Care.

• Provides incident reporting education/training as needed to all staff members in the organization.

• Participates in/leads pillar patient safety committees, Sentinel Event/Serious Safety Event meetings, teams, work groups, and huddles. Serves as a patient safety consultant to various other committees to ensure integration of patient safety work across the continuum of care.

• Prepares accurate tracking and trending of patient safety work product and related activities.

• Facilitates use of data to identify opportunities to improve safety, prevent events with the potential to negatively impact patient care, promote a culture of patient safety and improve hospital processes.

• Develops reports to effectively communicate findings. Presentation of information is clear, concise, and tailored to the level of the user.

• Provides a regular cadence of safety event reporting to appropriate governance structures, clinical departments, and/or other designated groups as appropriate throughout the organization on an ongoing basis.

• Conducts cause analysis on safety events and work with departments to mitigate the immediate risks to patients as a result of human or systems errors.

• Collaborates with Risk Management to ensure continuity and closed loop communication in how we are addressing and ensuring accountability to thorough review processes with high harm events.  Ensures disclosure practices are followed and documentation practices in the electronic health record are adhered to.

• Facilitates compliance with The Joint Commission (TJC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and state quality and patient safety requirements by coordinating, organizing and communicating appropriate information to designated committees, teams, work groups and leadership in a timely fashion. Leads initiatives for high priority safety opportunities as identified by leadership.

• Adheres to organizational and department specific safety and confidentiality policies and standards.

• Participates in and supports Patient Safety Awareness Week (PSAW) and the Quality and Safety Symposium.

• Manages/supports the Good | Great Catch award program. 

• Seeks opportunities to enhance own professional knowledge, skills, and abilities as they relate to one’s current position and/or to prepare for potential future roles and overall career development, e.g., speaking/poster presentations at local or national conferences, publications in journals/books, or certification in quality or performance improvement.

• Conducts Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) as needed/appropriate.

• Completes quality and safety reviews for insurance companies.

• Demonstrates commitment to patient safety and protecting patients and providers by advocating safe practices and policies/procedures.

• Develops effective and supportive relationships with all members of the QuIP team and multidisciplinary teams in the hospital.

• Demonstrates behaviors that promotes a positive team culture influencing our ability to impact patient safety throughout the organization.

• Serves as a role model to foster a patient safety culture in the organization.

• Act as a champion for Just Culture.

• Participates in the hiring of professional and support staff.

• Assumes special assignments as delegated by the Chief Quality Officer and the Director of the Quality Improvement Program.

Leadership | Supervision:

• Provides functional supervision and oversight to Patient Safety Engineers, acts as a resource and content expert, orients, develops and trains new staff, provides day-to-day oversight of team responsibilities, and contributes to the performance evaluation process.

• Respects the vision of the Chief Quality Officer, and partners with the Director of the Quality Improvement Program to ensure leadership roles in the program are aligned. 

• Generates reports and presents information to upper-level leadership as appropriate.

• Accomplishes department objectives by managing the Patient Safety Engineer staff through planning, evaluating and guiding project inventories and timelines.

• Empowers employees to take responsibility for their jobs and goals.

Percent of time: 100%, full-time

Work schedule: Some flexibility between the hours of 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.

Location: This position is located at the UI Health Care Medical Center, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA. This position is eligible to participate in partial remote work after the initial training and onboarding has been completed. Remote work must be performed at a location within the state of Iowa and will require a work arrangement form to be completed upon the start of your employment. Per policy, work arrangements will be reviewed annually, and must comply with the remote work program and related policies and the employee travel policy when working at a remote location

Salary level 5B. Starting salary will be based on applicant qualifications and relevant experience. To view the full salary range for 5B: Professional and Scientific Pay Structures | University Human Resources - The University of Iowa

Benefits Highlights:  Fringe benefit package including paid vacation; sick leave; health, dental, life and disability insurance options; and generous employer contributions into retirement plans. Complete information regarding the full benefits package may be viewed at: https://hr.uiowa.edu/benefits