Patient Safety Engineer, Quality Improvement Program

The Quality Improvement Program (QuIP) at UI Health Care has an opening for a full-time Patient Safety Engineer.  The Patient Safety Engineer is responsible for:

• Assessing, planning, implementing, and/or evaluating patient safety principles and practices throughout the UI Health Care. 

• Providing a planned, systematic approach to identifying, designing, measuring and monitoring patient safety in a complex organization. 

• Gathering data detailing patient-related errors and conduct analysis for the organization. 

• Developing 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.

Job duties and responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

• 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.

• 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 incidents 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 EHR 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.

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

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

• Completes quality and safety reviews for insurance companies.

• Participates in annual Critical Access Hospital (CAH) reviews.  Provides educational support to CAHs as needed/requested.

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

To receive a copy of the full job description: Email Heidi Bodensteiner at heidi-bodensteiner@uiowa.edu. 

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 on the University Campus, 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 

Pay level 5A. Starting salary will be based on applicant qualifications and relevant experience.  To view the entire range for salary level for 5A: 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