Quality & Patient Safety Program Manager – Pediatrics (SPS)

Join one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, UChicago Medicine, as a Quality Program Manager – Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) for our Nursing Pediatrics Admin department. 

The Quality Program Manager serves as the operational and clinical lead for the hospital's participation in the Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) network. This position will lead multidisciplinary quality improvement projects, coordinate SPS reporting requirements, analyze safety data, facilitate organizational learning, and promote a culture of high reliability and continuous improvement across the organization, in partnership with leaders and frontline staff. The Quality Program Manager will also manage our utilization of the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) data. 

Essential Job Functions 

Solutions for Patient Safety Program Leadership

• Serve as the primary organizational liaison for the Solutions for Patient Safety collaborative. 
• Coordinate participation in SPS learning sessions, webinars, and collaborative activities. 
• Ensure compliance with SPS reporting requirements, timelines, and data submission. 
• Monitor SPS harm metrics and identify opportunities for improvement. 
• Lead implementation and sustainment of SPS bundles and evidence-based best practices. 
• Share lessons learned and successful interventions throughout the organization. 

Quality Improvement & Project Management

• Lead multiple concurrent quality improvement projects utilizing Lean, Six Sigma, Model for Improvement, and PDSA methodologies. 
• Develop project charters, timelines, communication plans, and implementation strategies. 
• Facilitate multidisciplinary improvement teams. 
• Monitor project milestones and remove barriers to successful implementation. 
• Evaluate project outcomes using process and outcome measures. 
• Spread successful interventions across inpatient and ambulatory settings. 

Data Management & Analytics

• Collect, validate, analyze, and interpret patient safety and quality data, including both internal and external data sets such as PHIS. 
• Develop dashboards and scorecards for hospital leadership. 
• Identify trends and opportunities for improvement. 
• Prepare reports for executive leadership, board committees, and frontline teams. 

Patient Safety & Clinical Excellence

• Partner with nursing, physicians, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, infection prevention, risk and patient safety and other leaders and frontline staff to reduce serious safety events. 
• Participate in root cause analyses (RCA), apparent cause analyses, and event reviews. 
• Monitor Serious Safety Events (SSEs), near misses, and precursor events. 
• Assist in identifying system failures and developing sustainable corrective actions. 
• Promote just culture and high reliability principles. 
• Support organizational patient safety initiatives and accreditation readiness. 
• Facilitate interdisciplinary rounds focused on patient safety. 

Education & Change Management

• Educate clinical teams on SPS initiatives and quality improvement methodologies. 
• Develop educational materials, toolkits, and standard work. 
• Coach unit/department leaders on implementing evidence-based practices. 
• Promote a culture of safety, transparency, and continuous learning. 
• Recognize units demonstrating improvement and sustainment. 
• Facilitate workshops, committee meetings, and improvement events. 

Required Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in a Healthcare, Engineering, or Performance Improvement field or equivalent. 

• Possess a minimum of 5-7 years’ experience in healthcare, performance improvement, project management, or other advanced positions.

• Knowledge of performance improvement techniques and methodologies. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) 
• Master’s degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Public Health, or related field 
• 2 years of clinical or nursing experience
• Minimum 3 years of quality improvement, patient safety, project management, or healthcare operations experience 
• Certification in: 
  • Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) 
  • Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) 
  • Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt 
  • Project Management Professional (PMP) 
• Experience leading multidisciplinary improvement initiatives 
• Demonstrated knowledge of quality improvement methodologies 
• Experience with Solutions for Patient Safety or comparable national safety collaborative 
• Pediatric hospital experience 
• Strong knowledge of patient safety science  
• Quality improvement methodologies (Model for Improvement, Lean, Six Sigma) 
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills with all levels of staff, including physicians and administrative staff. 
• Experience facilitating groups with many different stakeholders 
• Ability to elicit cooperation and maintain productive working relationships with internal and external leaders.
• Ability to lead complex, interrelated portfolio of projects, using program management tools and techniques.
• Ability to set strategic vision for portfolio/ program and is accountable for all quality-related operations and goals in the focus area to have a major impact on clinical operations and outcomes in that area.
• Ability to manage, interpret, and present data.
• Self-motivated: given appropriate direction for goals, must be able to work autonomously in a sometimes ambiguous and changing environment
• Microsoft Excel, Smartsheet, Tableau, or similar reporting tools 

Position Details 

• Job Type/FTE: Full Time 
• Shift: Days  
• Job Location: Hyde Park (Flexible)
• Unit/Department: Nursing Pediatrics Admin
• CBA Code: Non-Union