Senior Safety, Quality, and Patient Experience Specialist

Join Cleveland Clinic Akron General where we have been providing world-class care to the community for over 100 years. At Akron General, you will work and learn from some of the best caregivers, provide and receive multitudes of support and appreciation, and create the steppingstones toward a rewarding career with one of the world's most respected healthcare organizations. We strive for patient-centered care and comfort, and we are committed to serving the community and treating our patients as family.   

As a Senior Safety, Quality, and Patient Experience Specialist you will be directing safety, quality, and experience work within your assigned scope of responsibility. In this role, you will become part of a team that promotes high reliability and a close-knit culture. Your duties will include:  

• Implementing improvement initiatives using the Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model.  

• Partnering with clinical leadership to set objectives and key results.  

• Coordinating with cross functional stakeholders to ensure compliance with all standards and favorable performance on safety, quality, utilization, and experience metrics. 

• Participating in engraining the safety, quality, and experience requirements.  

Our ideal caregiver is someone who: 

• Has at least 8 years of related experience with safety, quality, patient experience and Performance Improvement program or related healthcare experience. 

• Can be a leader in the department.  

• Has effective communication and collaboration skills. 

• Has previous experience working with Joint Commission.  

At Cleveland Clinic, we know what matters most. That's why we treat our caregivers as if they are our own family, and we are always creating ways to be there for you. Here, you'll find that we offer: resources to learn and grow, a fulfilling career for everyone, and comprehensive benefits that invest in your health, your physical and mental well-being and your future. When you join Cleveland Clinic, you'll be part of a supportive caregiver family that will be united in shared values and purpose to fulfill our promise of being the best place to receive care and the best place to work in healthcare. 

Responsibilities:

• Directs performance improvement regarding SQPE across an Enterprise service line, market, or submarket.
• Acts as an accountable partner to executive and clinical leadership within their areas of responsibility.
• Understands and implements elements of performance as outlined by regulations, bylaws, and rules and regulations established by the medical staff. Acts as the primary resource for staff to facilitate overall operations of programs.
• Develop meaningful quality assurance activities with executive and clinical leadership to establish when a deviation in standard practice has occurred.
• Analyzes performance data and develops and implements improvement strategies and applies structured problem-solving approaches.
• Acts as a consultant in educating and evaluating clinical and support department staff regarding quality management regulations and standards of care.
• Supports medical staff quality assurance activities such as peer review, ongoing professional practice evaluation, and focused professional practice evaluation.
• Develops and assures processes to monitor performance, identifies where and identify where intervention is needed and leads change to drive and sustain improvement.
• Incorporates regulatory and accreditation standards into improvement activities around SQPE.
• Collaborates on development of required plans such as the performance improvement plan, safety plan, infection control plan, and others as required by governance.
• Incorporates enterprise priorities, regulatory requirements and benchmarks ensuring alignment to one standard of care across locations.
• Facilitates dashboard reviews, data analysis and decision-making from data.
• Identify and address root causes to lead to sustainable improvement.
• Leads improvement projects to the desired key result role modeling the Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model.
• Manages stakeholder relationships, project risks and project changes.
• Researches and applies best practices within and outside the organization.
• Manages change to ensure the adoption and sustainment of quality improvement.
• Builds relationships with project teams, medical staff and other clinical and non-clinical stakeholders, executive leadership, and sponsors.
• Coach complex improvement teams to success with their quality improvement projects at the local, market and Enterprise level.
• Coach high reliability principles and error prevention strategies.
• Applies the Cleveland Clinic cause analysis process to identify key factors that lead to failures in SQPE. Apply common cause analysis identification to safety events.
• Should have experience in the primary service line supported by the role if this role is supporting an enterprise service line.
• Other duties as assigned.

Language:

• English.

Education:

• Master’s degree in nursing, Healthcare Administration, Business, Engineering, or related field required. An additional two (2) years of related experience can offset the master’s degree requirement.

Certifications:

• Must maintain a minimum of one (1) of the following certifications: 
  • Certified Patient Safety Professional (CPPS) 
  • Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) 
  • Healthcare Accreditation Certification Program (HACP) or Certified Joint Commission Professional (CJCP)  
  • Process Improvement Certification preferred: Lean, Six Sigma, etc. 
  • Certified in Infection Control (CIC) 
  • Certified Patient Experience Professional (CPXP) 
• Additional certifications preferred.
• Registered Nurse Preferred. 

Complexity of Work:

• Requires critical thinking skills, decisive judgment, and the ability to work with minimal supervision. 
• Must be able to self-prioritize work assignments and work independently. 
• Supports   a large specialty hospital, academic medical center, or an enterprise assignment.
• Must be able to work in a stressful environment and take appropriate action. 
• Must represent clinical transformation in embodiment of Cleveland Clinic values. 
• Ability to engage senior management and apply critical thinking and decisive judgment. 
• Familiarity with basic statistical analysis, CI tools and change management techniques. 
• Effective communication skills and ability to collaborate at all organizational levels. 
• Must be able to work in a dynamic ever-changing environment and take appropriate action. 

Work Experience:

• Minimum eight (8) years of related experience with safety, quality, patient experience and Performance Improvement program or related healthcare experience.
• Previous experience in working with Joint Commission, HFAP, CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid: Government agency that provides reimbursement for accredited trainees) surveys process preferably in a leadership/coordination role.
• In-depth knowledge of patient safety best practices, joint commission standards, and conditions of participation.
• Clinical experience preferred and will offset three (3) years of experience requirement in SQPE.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to communicate and exchange accurate information.
• Ability to perform work in a stationary position for extended periods.
• Ability to work with physical records or operate a computer or other office equipment.
• In some locations, ability to travel throughout the hospital system.
• In some locations the ability to move up to 25 lbs.

Personal Protective Equipment:

• Follow standard precautions using personal protective equipment as required.