Patient Safety and Experience Lead

Position Type:
Permanent

Closing date:
2024-11-22

Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Medavie Health Services (MHS) that manages and operates ground ambulance, air medical transport and the medical communications operations in Nova Scotia through a performance-based contract with the provincial government's Emergency Health Services (EHS) Operations division and the Department of Health and Wellness. As well, EMC operates TeleHealth/811 medical communications for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island for the Department of Health.

We access all communities in Nova Scotia in a timely and efficient manner with our fleet of more than 180 ambulances and support vehicles operating out of 60+ stations. We respond to 165,000+ calls annually across the province, which are actively managed through the EHS Operations Medical Communications Centre, the hub of all emergency (911) and non-emergency (hospital transfers) medical calls.

The EHS Operations LifeFlight program provides even greater accessibility by responding to patients on scene or through inter-facility transports by our critical care team via helicopter, fixed wing, or ground ambulance.

In addition, paramedics in Nova Scotia participate in various programs both urban and rural such as community-based paramedic programs, collaborative emergency centres, and emergency preparedness and special operations, to name a few.

Patient Safety and Experience Lead

Reporting to the Manager, Risk and Patient Safety, the Patient Safety and Experience Lead is responsible for supporting Emergency Medical Care's (EMC) Patient Safety and Patient Experience initiatives focused on the EHS system.

The Patient Safety and Experience Lead has an overall goal of fostering a culture of person-centered care, while ensuring an organizational focus on patient safety. As a specialist in patient safety, the incumbent shall be responsible for identifying, monitoring, investigating and mitigating patient safety risks for EHS patients. The accomplishment of this will be through leading both prospective and retrospective analyses using existing methodology for incident analysis, quality reviews and failure mode and effects analyses (FMEA). Related investigations are conducted through the Issues Management (IM) program which includes conducting investigations, completing case files and supporting system-level recommendations.

The Patient Safety Experience Lead is responsible for supporting patient and family relations within the organization, as well as developing and leading the Patient and Family Partnership Council. The incumbent will play a key role in building and maintaining external relationships with patients, families and communities. The incumbent will work closely with all areas of the organization, including Clinical Services, System Performance, Operations and Medical Communications teams, as well as other personnel within the organization, as required.

As an employee of Emergency Medical Care (EMC) we are accountable to our patients and coworkers by participating in and supporting all safety related initiatives, as well as acting in a manner that fosters a culture that focuses on patient safety and a safe workplace.

Duties and Responsibilities:
The position entails, but is not limited to the following:
Patient Experience
- Act as an organizational specialist and advocate for patient experience and engagement.
- Support the organization in improving patient experience.
- Lead the development of the Patient and Family Partnership Council, ensuring alignment with the organization's strategic plan and business priorities.

Patient Relations
- Act as the organization's specialist for EHS patient relations.
- Communicate directly with patient and/or family members who require additional support after receiving care through the EHS system.
- Make contact, and act as the EMC representative for patients and/or family members who are involved in a service inquiry or related to care received within the EHS system.
- Follow-up and effectively communicate findings to patients and/or family members who are involved in a service inquiry or related to care which was reviewed through the Issues Management Program.

Collaboration
- Collaborate with EMC leaders in the development of organizational policies, guidelines and other documentation impacting patient safety.
- Develop relationships with community groups to identify unique care needs of individuals within their community.
- Act as a patient safety and experience liaison internally and externally on program and policy implementation.
- Participate in or facilitate key committees, providing support from a patient safety and experience perspective, including but not limited to: ePCR Advisory, Continuous Quality Improvement, Privacy Management Committee, Equipment Standards and Joint Occupational Health and Safety (JOHS).
- Collaborate with EHS, LifeFlight and Telehealth managers, supervisors and operati