Job Description

The Quality Improvement (QI) Specialist is primarily responsible for supporting the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals (BCH) Quality Improvement Committee (QIC) in close partnership with committee chairs, and clinical and administrative leaders and staff. The QI Specialist works with various departments and divisions to coach and prepare them for their committee reports, promptly escalates concerns, and provides advice and recommendations for resolution. This role also leads or assists in the follow-up of system issues raised during QIC that require deeper problem-solving, which could include establishing or collaborating with project teams to improve workflows.

In addition, the QI Specialist supports improvement work in alignment with strategic priorities or top patient safety concerns across BCH. This could include project management, meeting facilitation, the application of quality improvement methods, and the deployment of new standard practices across departments and/or sites. This requires foundational knowledge, skills and abilities in project management, improvement methodology, data analysis, and the use of Microsoft platforms (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.).

The QI Specialist reports to the Director of Quality Improvement for BCH.

Department Overview

The Benioff Children’s Hospitals (BCH) Quality Improvement department provides improvement, program development, quality data, and external reporting expertise to the pediatric inpatient and outpatient enterprises. The team is made up of individuals with clinical and non-clinical backgrounds with skillsets in clinical quality improvement project facilitation, program and project management, data analysis and interpretation, and data abstraction, and collaborates with individuals across many parts of the broader UCSF organization.

%

of time

Essential Function (Yes/No)

Key Responsibilities

(To be completed by Supervisor)

40

Yes

QIC Management

• Collaborates with BCH QIC Chairs and QI Director to organize plans for the committee and works with administrative staff to develop agendas and capture meeting minutes.
• Communicates and partners with clinical departments, service leads, unit leaders and administrative leaders to ensure preparedness for committee meetings.
• Escalates concerns to BCH QIC Chairs and QI Director in a timely fashion, sharing root cause information and suggesting solutions.
• Contributes to the overall vision for QIC and assists in implementation of new workflows in alignment with the vision.
• Contributes to improvement efforts associated with BCH QIC workflows.
• Develops and implements standard work to ensure QIC sustains over time.

30

Yes

Project Management

• Leads smaller scoped improvement efforts.
• Collaborates with QI Advisors on medium to large and more complex .improvement efforts to help develop collateral – tools, documents, sustainability data methods, presentations, etc. that enables project success.
• Assists with developing standard work based on new practices identified during improvement efforts.
• Helps deploy new standards and monitor adherence to standards to ensure consistent practice.

20

Yes

Data & Reporting

• Analyzes performance trends and escalates concerning trends to QI Advisors and QI leadership.
• Participates in the development of dashboards and executive summaries.
• Communicates data effectively to stakeholders and helps others understand data definitions and constraints.

5

Yes

QI Team

• Contributes to internal team improvement efforts.

• Shares improvement ideas, best practices and failures for teammates to learn from.

• Attends huddles, staff meetings, team engagement events and other forums as required.

5

Yes

Professional Development

• Makes progress toward achievement of QI competency expectations

• Maintains competencies in professional field and stays up-to-date on latest literature.

100%

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REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in nursing or other healthcare profession, or a combination of comparable clinical education and/or experience.
• Minimum two (2) years of project management, process improvement, quality improvement or similar experience.
• Able to build and maintain positive working relationships with key stakeholders inside and outside of the Department of Quality & Safety.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Strong skills in conveying clinical and technical information both verbally and in writing, and in producing high-quality reports and documentation.
• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills to manage multiple levels of information.
• Detail-oriented with the ability to manage time and organize competing priorities.
• Ability to demonstrate excellent judgment, attention to process, and detail.
• Strong initiative and ability to work independently as well as in a team environment.
• Strong skills to engage and influence staff, management, and clinicians at different levels and across departments.
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills
• Discretion, confidentiality, tact, and ability to deal with sensitive data involving patient health information.
• Familiarity with the health care environment.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Working knowledge of QI models, measurement tools, and techniques, including collection, aggregation, abstraction, validation, analysis, and reporting of data.
• Formal training in Quality Improvement with familiarity with specific tactics such as Lean, IHI Model for Improvement, interpretation of improvement data and trends over time, A3 thinking, driver diagrams, cycle of improvement, etc.
• Organizational development and project management skills with the ability to facilitate meetings, prioritize tasks, and see projects through from inception to completion on schedule.
• Experience in business intelligence reporting, data mining, data analysis, and/or statistical analysis
• Certified by reputable organization in QI, Process Improvement or Lean (CPHQ, IHI IA, Lean Six Sigma Belt, etc.)