At Houston Methodist the Professional Practice Leader position serves as a consultant and subject matter clinician for a service line/specialty area functioning at the Expert level of Benners model of clinical practice. The Professional Practice Leader position provides education and development to the direct patient care staff in addition to being accountable for the care outcomes of a service line or clinical population. This position leads and coordinates interprofessional activities focusing on clinical practice consultation education and research incorporating evidence into practice. The Professional Practice Leader position uses expert communication skills to serve as care advocate and to mentor and coach staff in clinical and professional practice. This position assumes an advanced leadership role in analyzing systems to anticipate/reduce risk and improve patient safety/quality. Responsibilities for the Professional Practice Leader position include contributions at the unit and housewide levels with expectation to collaborate/manage/lead on systemwide and national initiatives.

PEOPLE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Promotes interprofessional collaboration in patient care providing leadership to maintain a supportive and healthy work environment. Partners with department leadership to define priorities of service line/specialty department. Builds partnerships across the system and strives for consensus in practice.

Partners in collaboration with leadership of the service lines/specialty areas to promote staff accountability and effective decisionmaking which includes coaching to provide feedback in an effective way. Empowers nurses to seek feedback from peers informally or through established preceptor or mentor relationships. Leads interprofessional teams to achieve organizational goals through involvement in shared governance

Consults as the subject matter expert and guides clinicians to available resources and policies on standards of care for their service line and/or across departments. Coaches clinicians utilizing effective communication techniques in strategies to improve practice and patient outcomes or changes in practice.

SERVICE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Indirectly affects patient care through the bedside RN as their focus is on developing and ensuring they give quality care. Promotes the transfer of knowledge to practice ensuring that knowledge/training is carried out and integrated into practice. Validates effectiveness of education on identified outcomes.

Oversees transition to independent practice of clinicians. Develops timely and efficient onboarding process orientation professional development related to the service line and competency requirements.

Directs and mentors teams in implementing clinical projects and/or practice changes. Evaluates outcome measures to adjust or reinforce practice changes.

QUALITY/SAFETY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Identifies gaps in practice through competency assessment observation or available measures. Plans and implements strategies to address gaps through observation of employee and their practice audits and metrics that may indicate a gap or need for improvement. Provides guidance to staff in clinical project development and management using the PDCA process and supporting the Pathway to Excellence/Magnet journey.

Collaborates with Quality team regarding patient safety events. Engages in action planning including evidencebased practice guidelines and disseminating necessary practice changes.

Utilizes dashboards to maintain awareness of patient outcome measures and system patient care metrics partnering with clinical areas to identify needs plan implement and evaluate an intervention to positively impact the quality of patient care. Drives nurse sensitive indicator performance by using data to identify gaps and plan interventions to meet and exceed expectations. Provides education to support improvement of the patient experience.

Operationalize quality initiatives by maintaining awareness and knowledge of applicable regulatory or accrediting body standards and the applicability to the clinical area. Provides leadership in design implementation and evaluation of process improvement initiatives.

FINANCE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Builds a project plan for practice change while considering financial implications. Identifies costcontainment measures as applicable in clinical areas to quantify cost savings.

Contributes to unit plans for resource utilization and capital needs incorporating financial evaluation within project management. Drives strategies to meeting department financial target on hospital and/or unitbased scorecard.

GROWTH/INNOVATION ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Engages the learner for continued professional growth while promoting and supporting transition of staff along the Clinical Career Path. Assists in cross training and preparing staff to transition across clinical settings (e.g. Obs to ED L&D ST to OR crosstraining).

Applies theories of change to support staff and promote evidencebased decisionmaking. Cultivates a climate of clinical inquiry to establish an environment where staff want to become involved in research and evidencebased practice. Guides staff in the creation and submission of clinical abstracts posters and presentations.

Champions and leads innovative initiatives to obtain service line/departmentspecific focus or specialty designations recognitions or awards. Collaborates across the hospital and system in implementing change as appropriate maintaining awareness of current changes in practice standards and applies to clinical practice setting. Completes and updates the individual development plan (IDP) on an ongoing basis.

This job description is not intended to be allinclusive; the employee will also perform other reasonably related business/job duties as assigned. Houston Methodist reserves the right to revise job duties and responsibilities as the need arises.

EDUCATION

Masters degree

Master of Science in Nursing preferred

Clinical Nurse Leader or Clinical Nurse Specialist preferred

WORK EXPERIENCE

Five years clinical nursing experience with three years in a clinical specialty

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS REQUIRED

RN Registered Nurse Texas State Licensure and/or Compact State Licensure within 90 days or
RNTemp Registered Nurse Temporary State Licensure within 90 days and
BLS Basic Life Support (AHA) and
Magnet ANCC Recognized Certification in applicable specialty area

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job determined through ongoing skills competency assessments and performance evaluations

Sufficient proficiency in speaking reading and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job especially with regard to activities impacting patient or employee safety or security

Ability to effectively communicate with patients physicians family members and coworkers in a manner consistent with a customer service focus and application of positive language principles

Strong assessment organizational and problem solving skills as evidenced by capacity to prioritize multiple tasks and role components

Ability to function independently and exercise judgment in interactions with physicians interprofessional care team and patients and their families

Uses critical thinking skills and clinical judgment to work autonomously as defined by the Nurse Practice Act

Acts as effective change agent

Demonstrates proficient time management skills

Expert knowledge of Nursing Units Dashboard and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores

Demonstrates expertise in operating the electronic medical record

Maintains instructorlevel certification and professional certifications

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

WORK ATTIRE

Uniform No
Scrubs Yes
Business professional Yes
Other (department approved) No

ONCALL*
*Note that employees may be required to be oncall during emergencies (ie. DIsaster Severe Weather Events etc) regardless of selection below.

On Call* No

TRAVEL**
**Travel specifications may vary by department**

May require travel within the Houston Metropolitan area Yes
May require travel outside Houston Metropolitan area No

Company Profile:

Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital is committed to leading medicine in Clear Lake and surrounding communities by delivering the Houston Methodist standard of exceptional safety quality service and innovation. Houston Methodist Clear Lake provides a broad spectrum of adult pediatric medical and surgical care. It is an accredited chest pain center and acute strokeready designated through DNV. Houston Methodist Clear Lake offers advanced inpatient and outpatient services including stateoftheart imaging; childbirth center with a level II neonatal intensive care unit; minimally invasive surgery; cancer center; neurology and spine care; heart and vascular care; bariatric and digestive care; emergency care; primary care; rehabilitation services; and comprehensive orthopedics and sports medicine.

Houston Methodist is an equal opportunity employer inclusive of women minorities disabled persons and veterans.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Houston Methodist is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Equal employment opportunity is a sound and just concept to which Houston Methodist is firmly bound. Houston Methodist will not engage in discrimination against or harassment of any person employed or seeking employment with Houston Methodist on the basis of race color religion sex sexual orientation gender identity national origin age disability status as a protected veteran or other characteristics protected by law. VEVRAA Federal Contractor priority referral Protected Veterans requested.