Clinical Risk Manager

Description:

Under the direction of the Clinical Governance Director, the Clinical Risk Manager implements and maintains a comprehensive, facility-wide patient safety and risk management program to prevent harm to patients and caregivers. The Risk Manager is responsible for proactive risk reduction, oversight/trending of event reports, and knowledge of and adherence to applicable regulatory and accreditation body regulations and hospital policies. The Risk Manager will lead the investigation, management and follow-up of patient safety events reported through the organization’s safety event reporting system. The Risk Manager will develop safety strategies, review policies, support peer review activities and committees, and assist with regulatory agency responses.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Clinical Risk Management Operations

Develop and foster facility-wide systems for risk identification, investigation and reduction including, but not limited to, incident reports, caregiver referrals, medical record reviews, review or patient complaints and risk/safety assessment.
Assess operational and clinical risk across the facility; provide proactive and reactive risk management, including risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation and risk treatment to minimize facility risks and loss exposure.
Develop, monitor, and maintain a comprehensive facility risk register.
Manage the incident reporting system, investigate reported incidents and near-misses in collaboration with clinical and non-clinical services, closing incidents and producing regular incident reports.
Identify, investigate, and report on Sentinel Events and facilitate the Root Cause Analysis & Action process.
Serve as a resource to hospital administration and other caregivers on Risk Management/legal/ethical issues, including off-hours and during holidays as needed.
Collaborate with clinical leadership to design processes to improve safety of care consistent with best practices and regulatory standards.
Recommend changes, policies, or programs that could prevent future errors or near-misses.
Implement best practices in patient safety and risk mitigation to drive a proactive approach and prevention of patient harm.
Review facility agreements and contracts as appropriate to reduce risk exposure.
Advise senior management on extreme and high-risk identification and provide the required risk management reports.
Be a trusted agent for caregivers to report concerns about aspects of care that may generate risk to patients.

Safety Event Management

Lead reviews of internal patient safety event (incident) reports and analyzes level of harm, risk, and liability exposure.
Review, investigate and evaluate significant cases; Obtain more detailed information by chart review and interviews as indicated.
Analyze occurrence data for frequency and severity of events; Identify trends necessitating intervention and work with facility/department leadership in planning and implementing actions to address identified issues.
Conduct and facilitate Root Cause Analyses (RCA); Investigate and prepare for root cause study of sentinel events and other serious safety events as necessary, to include the development of a timeline, contacting the required participants to establish their attendance, scheduling and participating in the meeting, writing the report of the investigation, scheduling a follow-up corrective action plan and monitoring the plan.
Develop reporting tools to identify patient safety issues and processes of care to improve outcomes, facilitating Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Root Cause Analysis (RCAs) in coordination with quality leadership to effectively drive change.

Regulatory Readiness

Support and participate in Jawda activities through data collection and validation of risk and safety KPIs such as sentinel and adverse events, transfusion reactions, medication errors, falls, and other adverse incidents.
Assist in all internal audits, accreditation and regulatory activities, including surveys, survey preparation, readiness assessments and Tasneef Jawda audits.

Data Analysis / Process Improvement

Use data to identify systems-based improvement opportunities; Develop data reports and visualizations as required.
Collect, evaluate, and distribute relevant data concerning patient injuries, aggregate data summaries, monthly trend analysis of incidents and sentinel events trends; provides aggregate analysis of risk data; maintains statistical trending and results of risk management data.
Inform facility leadership and department managers regarding occurrences, issues, findings, and risk management suggestions; provides feedback in the effort to eliminate risks; assist head of departments and department managers in designing risk management programs within their departments.
Continuously monitor and evaluate risk events and near-misses, noting trends, and identifying and prioritizing opportunities to improve.

Quality and Risk Meetings

Coordinate and support the clinical risk management committee by providing required risk management and incident investigation information.
Participate in facility, Clinical Review, Morbidity & Mortality and/or other committees or meetings as required.
Provide monthly/quarterly risk management reports and/or presentations to management as delegated/assigned.

Professional / Personal Responsibilities

Serve as a resource to hospital administration, other employees, and physicians on Risk Management/legal/ethical issues, including off-hour and holiday coverage as needed.
Maintains knowledge of applicable rules, regulations, policies, laws, and guidelines that impact the area. Develops effective internal controls designed to promote adherence with applicable laws, regulatory and accreditation agency requirements.
Create and maintain organized, confidential, and professionally documented investigative files consistent with department processes.
Contribute to and promotes an organization-wide culture of safety.
Maintain professionalism and confidentiality with regards to any information exchanged or received.

Training and Education

Develop and present education programs for caregivers to enhance their awareness of their role in reducing medical errors to avoid patient injury and reduce liability exposure.
Provide education on risk management topics, both standard basic education and complex focused topics as needed and/or requested.
Attend conferences, participate in training programs and facilitate awareness by formulating and delivering awareness programs.

 Communication

Support risk and patient safety improvement efforts through collaboration with multi-disciplinary audiences, from executives to front line staff.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages to a variety of audiences throughout the organization.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

Essential:
Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, Midwifery or other health care related field.

Preferred:
Master’s degree in nursing, risk management or related field of study.

Certification: 

Essential:
Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) or Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) certification upon hire or within 12 months of hire.