Director Patient Safety

This position is incentive eligible.

Introduction

Are you ready to manage in a new era as a Director Patient Safety where building a healthier tomorrow is more than a job? Our HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood team is committed to partnership, innovation, legacy and improving more lives in more ways. Share your resume today.

Benefits

HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood, offers a total rewards package that supports the health, life, career and retirement of our colleagues. The available plans and programs include:

• Comprehensive medical coverage that covers many common services at no cost or for a low copay. Plans include prescription drug and behavioral health coverage as well as free telemedicine services and free AirMed medical transportation.
• Additional options for dental and vision benefits, life and disability coverage, flexible spending accounts, supplemental health protection plans (accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity), auto and home insurance, identity theft protection, legal counseling, long-term care coverage, moving assistance, pet insurance and more.
• Free counseling services and resources for emotional, physical and financial wellbeing
  
• 401(k) Plan with a 100% match on 3% to 9% of pay (based on years of service)
  
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan with 10% off HCA Healthcare stock
  
• Family support through fertility and family building benefits with Progyny and adoption assistance.
  
• Referral services for child, elder and pet care, home and auto repair, event planning and more
  
• Consumer discounts through Abenity and Consumer Discounts
  
• Retirement readiness, rollover assistance services and preferred banking partnerships
  
• Education assistance (tuition, student loan, certification support, dependent scholarships)
  
• Colleague recognition program
  
• Time Away From Work Program (paid time off, paid family leave, long- and short-term disability coverage and leaves of absence)
  
• Employee Health Assistance Fund that offers free employee-only coverage to full-time and part-time colleagues based on income.

Learn more about Employee Benefits

Note: Eligibility for benefits may vary by location.

Our teams are dedicated to improving human life. Each year about five percent of all U.S. hospital services happen at an HCA Healthcare facility. Be an impact as a Director Patient Safety where your passion for leading and creativity are valued? We want your knowledge and expertise!

Job Summary and Qualifications

The Patient Safety Director leads and collaborates in the implementation of the hospital-based patient safety program with the goal of eliminating preventable patient harm while also establishing and sustaining a culture of safety. 

What you will do in the role:

• Prevent future harm by initiating and overseeing proactive evaluation and redesign of systems to improve care processes (e.g. forcing functions, checklists, error causation thinking, human factors, applied informatics, culture).
• Support improved outcomes by emphasizing both appropriate behaviors and robust systems that include concise accountability measures and follow-up.
• Improve consistent delivery of evidence-based care and reduction in preventable harm by focusing on reliability and applying the principles of reliable design.
• Reduce variation in care delivery. Partner with the Patient Safety Organization (PSO) to explore identified variations when appropriate.
• Utilize alerts and best practices (e.g. Sentinel Event Alerts) to perform gap assessments and implement strong actions that will alleviate identified gaps.
• Effectively report, investigate, and analyze patient safety incidents, medical errors, and potential risks in the facility.
• Facilitate thorough and credible serious event analysis that result in strong sustainable improvement strategies.
• Facilitate thorough and credible failure mode effect analysis to identify and mitigate unintended adverse patient outcomes and evaluate effectiveness of process changes.
• Perform Patient Safety Rounds that identify patient safety risks. Empower staff to identify and participate in resolution of patient safety concerns.
• Coordinate disclosure of serious events to patients and/or families in accordance with organizational policy and regulations.
• Assure timely reporting of Patient Safety Work Product (PSWP) to the PSO.
• Actively participate in PSO learning collaboratives. Ensure implementation of best practices, alerts, and updates to drive patient safety improvement.
• Champion completion of Culture of Safety Survey.
• Facilitate analysis of culture of safety survey results such that data-driven action plans lead to targeted outcomes.
• Support and encourage harm reporting throughout the organization through a nonpunitive, just event reporting system.
• Provide feedback that acknowledges both the value of event reporting and review of reported events.
• Facilitate thorough and credible review of events that address both system and individual accountability.
• Serves as chair, or co-chair, of the Patient Safety Committee.
• Develop and/or provide input into organizational policies and procedures related to patient safety and/or risk management.
• Include patient safety in new hire orientation presentation (e.g. PSO membership, reporting expectations, safety culture)
• Provide ongoing education to leaders, medical staff, and staff on the science of safety (high reliability, effective communication, sustaining awareness/alertness) and patient safety initiatives.
• Work with facility leaders and managers to ensure thorough, credible and timely event management.
• Join with facility leaders to identify and hardwire behavioral norms that promote a culture of safety.
• Work with facility leaders to ensure understanding of and compliance with the National Patient Safety Goals.
• Partner with facility leadership to establish activities that enable and sustain an open and fair environment promoting learning, safe systems, and appropriately managing behavioral choices related to patient safety (e.g. Patient Safety Rounds, Event Response, Disclosure).
• Partner with Quality to complete the NQF Safe Practices section of the Leapfrog Hospital Survey.
• Participate in clinical and non-clinical committees to report applicable patient safety data, analyses, and information and to provide patient safety and risk management guidance and input.
• Engage patients/families when appropriate in the patient safety program.
• Seek input from patients/families involved in harm or close call events as appropriate.
• Oversee the complaint and grievance process including investigation and resolution. Ensure strict compliance to related CMS Conditions of Participation.
• Oversee the management and use of event information to benchmark and track progress to zero avoidable harm.
• Provide analysis and identify trends from patient safety data and reports to track progress of improvement strategies. Spread and sustain improvement.
• Present informative and actionable patient safety reports to appropriate committees to include high level presentations to Leadership, Medical Executive Committee and Board of Trustees. Include the patient’s story of harm.
• Implements and ensures ongoing systems to comply with requirements of the Safe Medical Device Act (SMDA) and tracks and/or reports recalls and/or issues associated with the safety of medical devices and products. Works collaboratively with all other hospital departments who have responsibility for SMDA tracking and/or reporting.
• Work with defense legal counsel to coordinate the investigation, processing and defense of claims against the facility; records, collects, documents, maintains, and provides to defense attorneys any requested information and documents necessary manage facility claims while maintaining privilege of PSWP
• Notify and interact with HCI on all actual and potential claims
• Work with security on procedures to reduce the frequency and/or minimize the severity of property loss or assets
• Contract Review
• Manage non-HCI cases: accept/process subpoenas, visitor events, property loss or theft, etc.
• Oversee the process for investigating and resolving concerns related to patient belongings.

What qualifications you will need:

• Bachelor’s Degree in healthcare related field Required
• Master’s Degree Preferred
• Clinical background Preferred
• Three to five years healthcare experience in patient safety, risk, and/or quality (Healthcare experience should be recent and within a clinical setting such as Hospital, Ambulatory Surgery Center, etc.) Preferred
• Certification in Patient Safety (CPPS) required, If not already CPPS, must obtain certification within 12 months of hire.
• Maintain CPPS while in role 

As a full-service, 420+ bed acute care hospital, HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood has provided the northeast Houston community with high-quality, cost-effective healthcare for over 25 years. We are dedicated to providing comprehensive, quality care, close to home. Our Women’s Center offers high-risk OB care, a Level III NICU, and pediatric services. We have an advanced Brain & Spine Center, which includes a DNV Comprehensive Stroke Center and the Sleep Center of Excellence. Our Orthopedic Center offers total joint replacement surgery using advanced technology. Other services include innovative and customized cardiovascular services, including open heart and vascular surgery and state-of-the-art imaging and endoscopy services for more accurate diagnosis and treatment plans. We are also a Certified Level I Stroke Center and an Accredited Chest Pain Center. We are members of HCA Houston Healthcare, the most comprehensive family of hospitals in the region and part of the leading provider of healthcare in the country, HCA Healthcare. Together we are stronger, smarter and more accessible in providing the patient-centered care you need close to home.

HCA Healthcare has been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by the Ethisphere Institute more than ten times. In recent years, HCA Healthcare spent an estimated $3.7 billion in cost for the delivery of charitable care, uninsured discounts, and other uncompensated expenses.

"There is so much good to do in the world and so many different ways to do it."- Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr.

If this is the kind of dynamic growth opportunity that compels you, apply for the Director Patient Safety role. We are interviewing apply today!

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.