Patient Safety Coordinator

JOB DETAILS Department: PM&I - Performance Meas and Improvement FTE: 1.0 (80 hours per 2 week pay period) Workdays: Monday - Friday Shift(s): Days Shift Length: 8 hours Location: Hybrid Minimum 3 days in person

Purpose of this position: The Patient Safety Coordinator plays a critical role in enhancing patient safety by supporting efforts to reduce patient harm across the healthcare system. The coordinator works to identify, analyze, and address patient safety issues. This position involves analyzing event reports and trends to assess potential patient harm and organizational risk. The coordinator works with various departments and committees and assists in the development of improvement strategies to ensure patient safety and regulatory compliance. The role includes leading root cause analysis, driving strong corrective actions, and leading proactive risk reduction activities. The Patient Safety Coordinator will serve as a consultant bringing the Patient Safety perspective to various committees and quality or patient safety projects. They provide education about quality, performance improvement and patient safety principles and processes.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Actively reviews and assesses event reports to ensure that all relevant departments and review bodies are notified of incidents and that appropriate follow-up actions are taken
• Actively identifies and addresses care, safety, process, or system issues that present potential patient safety risks and opportunities for improvement
• Retrieves event data and/or prepares reports and presents event data
• Leads root cause analysis (RCA) or system reviews for serious or sentinel events to identify contributing factors and corrective actions
• Completes required state and federal reporting processes, including Minnesota Patient Safety Registry adverse event reporting and FDA/CMS-required reporting
• Ensures the closure of identified improvement opportunities by following up on action plans and corrective measures
• Analyzes and presents data for evaluation of patient safety risk areas and for priority setting activities
• Serves as a member on various committees within the organization, offering expertise in patient safety, performance improvement, change management, and data analysis
• Coordinates multiple patient notification events
• Co-manages manufacturer recalls with Supply Chain and relevant departments
• Develops and provides organizational education related to patient safety topics
• Leads and participates in proactive risk reduction activities such as Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) to identify and mitigate potential safety hazards
• Maintains an understanding of The Joint Commission standards, other regulatory standards and quality industry standards regarding healthcare performance improvement and patient safety
• Provides data as needed regarding regulatory standards
• Rotates weekend call to provide guidance and to ensure timely vulnerable adult reporting for applicable patient safety events
• Provides project management for specific patient safety improvement activities

QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Three to five years of hospital experience in acute care clinical areas such as staff Nursing, OT/PT, Pharmacy, etc

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in nursing or other related healthcare field
• Experience in patient safety, quality improvement, project management, or healthcare risk management
• Competent in general computer skills and software programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint preferred

Knowledge/ Skills/ Abilities:

• Knowledge of healthcare regulations, patient safety standards, and event reporting processes
• Ability to lead and facilitate cross-functional teams and committees
• Project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines
• Possess organizational, analytical, verbal and written communication skills
• Knowledge of patient safety tools in the health care environment, science of human factors, Just Culture, and other patient safety principles and general performance improvement methodologies
• Ability to deal professionally, appropriately and effectively with very sensitive and confidential information
• Ability to support a non-punitive environment that encourages reporting and develops an open voluntary reporting culture
• Ability to collaborate and to facilitate collaboration with groups in problem solving, consensus building and initiating action