Patient Safety Specialist I

General Summary

Promotes a culture of high reliability and zero harm. This role ensures proactive identification, analysis, and mitigation of patient safety risks across the continuum of care. The specialist collaborates with leadership, clinicians, and staff to implement evidence-based practices, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement strategies that advance patient safety outcomes. A strong commitment to Just Culture principles and data-driven decision-making is essential.

Duties and Responsibilities

Essential Functions:

• Independently reviews, investigates, analyzes and validates complex patient safety events in the electronic reporting system with precision and timeliness.
• Completes thorough clinical review, including synthesizing information from the electronic medical record and interviews with involved team members to support event analysis.
• Ensures accurate and complete submission of events within the Safety and Experience Hub and to the PA Patient Safety Reporting System (PSRS) within required timeframes.
• Conducts thorough investigations in collaboration with leaders, applying root cause analysis and system-based thinking to identify key contributing factors (human, process, environmental, and system-level) that led to the event.
• Serves as a visible advocate for patient safety initiatives, influencing departments to adopt best practices and high-reliability principles.
• Facilitates education and engagement sessions to strengthen staff competency in safety reporting and improvement processes.
• Within departmental framework, analyzes clinical and administrative data to identify trends, risks, opportunities for improvement and recommended solutions.
• Collaborates with the Patient Safety Officer to design and implement targeted interventions based on evidence and research.
• Monitors and report progress on safety metrics, ensuring measurable reductions in harm events and compliance with regulatory standards.
• Comprehensively advance safety-focused initiatives such as root cause analysis, apparent cause analysis, failure modes and effects analysis and 4Cs. Incumbents must be capable leading and supporting these discussions.
• Promotes Lean Daily Management System (LDMS) principles to drive operational efficiency and safety reliability.

Common Expectations:

• Builds and maintains collaborative, supportive and mutually accountable relationships with team members.
• Maintains established policies and procedures, objectives, quality assessment and safety standards.
• Provides outstanding service to all customers; fosters teamwork; and practices fiscal responsibility through improvement and innovation. Serves as a role model for internal and external customer service behaviors. Challenges others to improve responsiveness to customers.

Travel Requirements:

• Estimated Amount: 5% - Intermittent travel to York for meetings or education.

Qualifications

Minimum Education:

- Bachelors Degree In a healthcare related field. Required

Work Experience:

- 5 years In a healthcare field. Required

Licenses and Certifications:

- Certified Professional in Patient Safety Required within 4 years
- License or Certification in a healthcare related field. Upon Hire Preferred and
- Licensed Registered Nurse Upon Hire Required or
- Registered Nurse Multi State License Upon Hire Required or
- Registered Radiologist Assistant - ARRT Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Physical Therapist Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Occupational Therapist Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Occupational Therapist Assistant Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Speech-Language Pathologist Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Respiratory Therapist Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Registered Pharmacist Upon Hire Required or
- Certified Paramedic Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Practical Nurse Upon Hire Required or
- Licensed Practical Nurse Multi State License Upon Hire Required or
- Certified Medical Laboratory Technician - AMT Upon Hire Required or
- Certified Medical Laboratory Technician - ASCP Upon Hire Required
- Must possess a valid driver's license in the current state of residence. Driving record must meet requirements established by WellSpan Risk Management

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

- Excellent interpersonal and written and oral communication skills.
- Excellent organizational skills.
- Knowledge of theory and process of performance improvement, facilitation, project management and data analysis skills.
- Knowledge of regulatory standards, both state and national patient safety regulations.
- Experience in electronic health record review, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint preferred.
- Ability to work irregular hours and under pressure due to deadlines for work completion.

Benefits Offered:

• Comprehensive health benefits
• Retirement savings plan
• Paid time off (PTO)
• Education assistance
• Financial education and support, including DailyPay
• Expanded Paid Parental Leave

For additional details: Benefits & Incentives | WellSpan Careers (joinwellspan.org)