Surgical Tech-Certified

About the Agency

The Chief, Organizational Performance Improvement (OPI) has a primary responsibility of advisory service to the Deputy Director and top level management on the most complex management concerns of the hospital including, but not limited to, strategic planning, hospital goals, program emphasis, resource allocations and key personnel. The incumbent will analyze results and provide in-depth reports to the Executive Steering Committee and other high level meetings such as Directors Staff Meetings, Executive Committee of the Medical Staff, Facility Support and the Strategic Planning Council.

About the role

This program is highly complex, encompassing all aspects of quality of care, risk to patients, staff and the institution. It encompasses all hospital staff and the institution. Complexity is increased by the multiplicity of authorities that provide broad-based requirements, which must be integrated and operationalized into policy statements, methods, objectives and action plans. These groups include The Joint Commission (TJC), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), etc.

Responsibilities

• Provides leadership in improving and sustaining the quality and effectiveness of care in diverse or complex programs.
• Directly responsible for the development, organization, integration and implementation of all aspects of the FHCC OPI program.
• Recognized as the hospital expert on PI programs and philosophies, and related hospital-wide programs.
• Functions very independently and must demonstrate the ability to coordinate activities with a wide diversity of high level employees such as service chiefs, physicians, nurses, and administrative officials.
• Encompassing performance improvement, patient safety, risk management, infection control, and Lean/Six Sigma/VA-TAMMCS, the purpose of the PI Program is to assure high quality care through the identification of opportunities to improve care, the provision of high quality and cost-effective services, and the identification of issues that might place patients and/or employees at increased/unnecessary risk.
• Supervises the Performance Improvement Section which is responsible for directing all services throughout the hospital in the planning and coordination of PI programs.
• Serves in a direct advisory capacity to the Quality Management/PI Specialist staff in the organization and development of a comprehensive program which is designed to meet TJC/VA standards.
• Responsible for providing the necessary leadership and guidance to develop, implement, refine and maintain a comprehensive program at the hospital-wide level to evaluate the quality of patient care, improve the quality of patient care, and evaluate the appropriateness and timeliness of services provided.
• Responsible for assuring the appropriate information is provided to personnel to empower them to meet the standards of providing and documenting quality care and maintaining a safe environment.
• Develops, implements, integrates and maintains a Performance Improvement Program to evaluate and improve the quality of patient care and/or the appropriateness and timeliness of services provided, promote quality in clinical practice by collaborating in the development of guidelines, criteria, and models for the delivery of patient care; improve hospital operations which can be exported for use in other VA facilities; develop a systematic approach in assisting and providing technical guidance among the Hospital's services.
• Directly responsible for ensuring all OPI program areas comply with standards and meet performance expectations.
• Responsible for the development, management, organization, implementation and supervision of the following six program components: (1) Risk Management, (2) Patient Safety, (3) Infection Control, (4) Accreditation, (5) Performance Improvement (PI) and (6) Lean/Six Sigma/VA-TAMMCS Programs.
• Has significant verbal and written communication skills as well as ability to persuade and negotiate to gain acceptance of organizational improvement initiatives.

Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship
• Full unrestricted Licensure, Certification, or Registration required.
• Must pass pre-employment examination.
• Designated and/or Random Drug Testing required.
• Background and/or Security Investigation required.
• English Language Proficiency required.

Qualifications

• Graduate of a school of professional nursing approved by the appropriate State-accrediting agency and accredited by one of the following accrediting bodies at the time the program was completed by the applicant: The National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC; renamed ACEN) or The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).
• Current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a graduate professional nurse in a State, Territory or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico) of the United States, or the District of Columbia.
• Must be proficient in spoken and written English.
• A Bachelor of Science in Nursing AND a Master's Degree in Nursing OR a Master's Degree in a healthcare related field; a Master's Degree in Nursing via a BRIDGE Program (if so, a BSN is not required), OR a Doctoral Degree in Nursing.
• At least four (4) years of successful RN nursing practice, including administrative/leadership positions with progressively more responsible leadership assignments.

Skills

• Current national certification in any of the following: Quality Assurance (CPHQ); Healthcare Compliance (CHC); Nurse Executive (NE-BC); and/or Nurse Executive Advanced (NEA-BC).
• At least two years of departmental leadership experience.
• Experience analyzing project results and providing in-depth reports to Executive Level Management including Executive Steering Committee, Director's Staff Meetings, Executive Committee of the Medical Staff, etcetera.
• Experience working with facility-wide programs such as Infection Control, Risk Management, Performance Improvement, and/or Patient Safety.