Quality Improvement Specialist

For more than 90 years St. Mary’s General Hospital has fostered a culture of innovation, compassion and respect. With this vision, St. Mary’s has developed an environment that inspires people to perform to the best of their ability. Passion, excellence and innovation are deeply embedded in all we do. St. Mary’s uses these principles to foster a healthy, supportive work environment that cares for the well-being of our community - mind, body and spirit. When you join St. Mary’s, your contribution will make a positive impact to the quality of life for patients and families. In addition, you will join a team dedicated to making St. Mary’s the safest and most effective hospital in Canada. _

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**POSITION RESPONSIBILITES**
- Support clinical programs and departments in setting and achieving improvement goals that align with SMGHs strategic plan, including those related to the annual Quality Improvement Plan
- Work collaboratively to analyze unit/program data to identify trends and support teams to understand and utilize data to inform and empower quality improvement activities
- Collaborate with and guide teams to develop, implement and evaluate initiatives to improve care and service delivery and patient experience using quality improvement tools (e.g. process mapping, root cause analysis, PDSA, reliable design, rapid cycle improvement, etc.)
- Collaborate with Patient Experience to ensure the voice of the patient is captured in all improvement design and activities
- Provide leadership to committees and working groups involved in improving processes, patient safety and patient outcomes within the organization
- Assist with ongoing Accreditation (QMentum/QGlobal) readiness and working with programs and departments to embed Accreditation readiness into daily work and operational planning
- Support the Quality team to implement, evaluate and refine the SMGH quality management system, contribute to internal and external reporting (e.g. quality committee reporting), data analysis and visualization, policy development, quality tool kit development and management, and quality improvement education
- Additional duties as assigned

This position must manage multiple competing priorities, manage conflict at times, and ensure adherence to strict deadlines. Planning is an important part of this role to meet operational targets and reporting deadlines. The work is performed independently, with support as required from the Manager/Director.
- **Undergraduate Degree in a health or quality improvement/patient safety related field**:

- **Formal training and/or certification in process improvement methodology such as Lean, Six Sigma, TPS (Toyota Production Systems Training)**:

- **Minimum of 5 years of experience leading quality improvement initiatives, clinical process improvements or health system transformation**:

- **Minimum of 5 years of experience utilizing methodologies and tools to drive change in a health-related organization (e.g. LEAN, Six Sigma, high reliability principles, risk matrix, PDCA, root cause analyses)**:

- **Working knowledge of current legislation governing healthcare facilities (e.g. Personal Health Information Protection Act, Health Care Consent Act, Mental Health Act, the Excellent Care for All Act, etc.)**:

- **Demonstrated leadership in supporting patient and family centered care strategies and improvement strategies that promote health equity**:

- **Demonstrated experience working collaboratively with a range of internal and external stakeholder groups and teams, developing and maintaining positive relationships, and influencing a wide range of stakeholders**:

- **Proven experience in leading and supporting teams and demonstrated ability to coach and mentor others**:

- **Ability to work collaboratively with clinical teams to identify performance and outcome indicators, monitor and analyze data and develop QI initiatives**

**OTHER ATTRIBUTES**
- **Must have a strong sense of personal and professional accountability, flexibility, and initiative to achieve high quality expectations and overall functioning of the department**:

- **Must have an ability to maintain a professional demeanor, a positive attitude and work well under pressure**:

- **Must have a level of physical fitness to perform the manual tasks of the position**:

- **Must be able to work effectively independently and as a member of an interdisciplinary patient care team**
- **Must be able to perform their function in accordance with prescribed standards that focuses on the priority of Patient Safety and the delivery of the highest standard of Quality Care**
- **Must have an eagerness to actively contribute to St. Mary’s General Hospital’s vision of becoming the safest and most effective hospital in Canada, through an interdisciplinary approach involving compassion, innovation, and respect**

**PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS**
- **Master’s Degree **in a Health related or Quality Improvement and Patient Safety related