Patient Safety Associate

At Duke Health, we're driven by a commitment to compassionate care that changes the lives of patients, their loved ones, and the greater community. No matter where your talents lie, join us and discover how we can advance health together.

About Duke University Hospital

Pursue your passion for caring with Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, which is consistently ranked among the best in the United States. The largest of Duke Health's four hospitals with 1062 patient beds, it features comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic facilities, including a regional emergency/trauma center, an endo-surgery center, and more.

Work Arrangement - onsite - Baker House 322

Job Overview

Duke University Hospital (DUH) seeks a Patient Safety Associate to collaborate with the Executive Director and Patient Safety team to support implementation of patient safety science, practices and system-driven plans for patient safety across the organization. The Patient Safety Associate will be responsible for coordinating activities and deployment of patient safety actions/methods with an assigned group of Clinical Service Units/business lines and intervening on safety events, risks or threats, as assigned. In addition, they will assist in support of organizational patient safety and quality initiatives, support and attend related committees, lead training and educational activities, and support the assessment and advancement of the culture of safety. The individual will assist in managing data, identifying trends and advocating for advancement of patient safety.

The Associate will primarily utilize a variety of proactive and retrospective patient safety tools and methods including, Root Cause Analysis, Learning from Defects, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, human factors analysis, and trend and pattern recognition utilizing a variety of safety signals. In addition to strong, specialized patient safety and quality improvement knowledge, the Patient Safety Associate will need to demonstrate strong soft skills to be able to read the environment as well as build trust and collaborative relationships with team members across the organization.

Job Duties

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  Facilitates the implementation of the organization's patient safety plan in alignment with the Duke Health and Duke University Hospital objectives.

  
  
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  Collaborates with physician, nurse, and other clinical and non-clinical leaders, including quality and Lean champions, to influence leadership in the transformation to, and support of, a robust culture of safety.

  
  
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  Facilitates sentinel event response and ensures thorough and credible root cause analysis approach following standard methodology.

  
  
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  Conducts and coaches others in proactive analysis to identify trends and patterns or gaps in systems and processes related to all aspects of care delivery, patient and staff safety.

  
  
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  Promotes learning culture through multi-faceted system to share.

  
  
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  Contributes to development of patient safety, culture and teamwork training content, documents, materials, and courses. Provides training and coaching to all levels of the organization, including students and residents.

  
  
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  Serves as a facilitator and change agent with ability to navigate challenging situations and complex issues with an objective approach employing humble inquiry and leadership skills.

  
  
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  Practices skills of open-ended questioning, attentive listening, recognizing sound PDCA problem solving and A3 thinking in alignment with the Duke Quality System.

  
  
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  Coaches others and facilitates the development of action plans and mechanisms to monitor and analyze effectiveness of improvement efforts.

  
  
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  Supports project management activities and/or works with project managers on project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closeout.

  
  
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  Performs other related duties, administrative or otherwise, incidental to the work described herein.

  
  

Education

A bachelor's degree in a business or health-related field is required. Master's Degree Preferred.

Experience

Minimum of 5 years work experience, including 3 years of experience with significant responsibility for performance/ process improvement. Experience leading work teams required. Experience can be supplemented with Master's degree with a Masters being equivalent to two years of experience.

Prior experience in patient safety and quality improvement is preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

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  Nursing or other direct clinical care experience

  
  
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  Experience in hospital setting, ideally teaching hospital

  
  
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  Lean, Six Sigma or Performance Improvement experience

  
  
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  Project management experience

  
  

Degrees, Licensures, Certifications

Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) preferred or attained within 2 years of hire

TeamSTEPPs Master Trainer certification preferred but not required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

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  Effective written and verbal communication skills including presentation and teaching skills

  
  
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  Ability to communicate with customers/staff with diverse educational backgrounds

  
  
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  Analysis of data and processes for opportunities for improvement

  
  
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  Ability to manage numerous diverse projects simultaneously through effective priority setting, efficient use of time, and organization

  
  
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  Knowledge of accreditation standards and regulations related to health care

  
  
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  Attention to detail and accuracy

  
  
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  Computer literacy

  
  

Additional preferred

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  Experience and demonstrated skill with using the teaching method of asking questions for self-discovery

  
  
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  Strong facilitation skills

  
  
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  Clear and concise written and verbal communication skills

  
  
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  Expert knowledge of patient safety science, principles and tools as would be gained from certification from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS)) and/or from the National Association for Healthcare Quality (Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ)

  
  
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  Ability to manage multiple projects

  
  
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  Change Management Skills: stakeholder analysis, communication plans, organizational readiness assessments

  
  
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  Project Management Skills: create project plans and manage multiple parallel deadlines, ability to identify roadblocks proactively and formulate mitigation plans