Job Description

At Houston Methodist, the Professional Practice Leader position serves as a consultant and subject matter clinician for a service line/specialty area, functioning at the Expert level of Benner's model of clinical practice. The Professional Practice Leader position provides education and development to the direct patient care staff in addition to being accountable for the care outcomes of a service line or clinical population. This position leads and coordinates interprofessional activities focusing on clinical practice, consultation, education and research, incorporating evidence into practice. The Professional Practice Leader position uses expert communication skills to serve as care advocate and to mentor and coach staff in clinical and professional practice. This position assumes an advanced leadership role in analyzing systems to anticipate/reduce risk and improve patient safety/quality. Responsibilities for the Professional Practice Leader position include contributions at the unit and housewide levels, with expectation to collaborate/manage/lead on system-wide and national initiatives.

This will be a dual role position combining Level III NICU Unit Education and the Maternal Program Manager. The Professional Practice Leader functions at the e xpert level of Benner’s model, serving as a subject matter consultant and educator responsible for staff development, care outcomes, and the integration of evidence-based practice in the NICU. The Maternal Program Manager role holds authority and accountability—alongside hospital leadership and the Neonatal Medical Director—for the design, implementation, and evaluation of neonatal program, ensuring quality, safety, and efficiency. The NPM is a clinically active registered nurse who also mentors staff and liaises with internal and external stakeholders, including regulatory bodies and the QAPI program.

Requirements:

PEOPLE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Promotes interprofessional collaboration in patient care, providing leadership to maintain a supportive and healthy work environment. Partners with department leadership to define priorities of service line/specialty department. Builds partnerships across the system and strives for consensus in practice.

• Partners in collaboration with leadership of the service lines/specialty areas to promote staff accountability and effective decision-making, which includes coaching to provide feedback in an effective way. Empowers nurses to seek feedback from peers, informally or through established preceptor or mentor relationships. Leads interprofessional teams to achieve organizational goals through involvement in shared governance

• Consults, as the subject matter expert, and guides clinicians to available resources and policies on standards of care for their service line and/or across departments. Coaches clinicians, utilizing effective communication techniques, in strategies to improve practice and patient outcomes or changes in practice.

SERVICE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Indirectly affects patient care through the bedside RN as their focus is on developing and ensuring they give quality care. Promotes the transfer of knowledge to practice, ensuring that knowledge/training is carried out and integrated into practice. Validates effectiveness of education on identified outcomes.

• Oversees transition to independent practice of clinicians. Develops timely and efficient onboarding process, orientation, professional development related to the service line and competency requirements.

• Directs and mentors teams in implementing clinical projects and/or practice changes. Evaluates outcome measures to adjust or reinforce practice changes.

QUALITY/SAFETY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Identifies gaps in practice through competency assessment, observation, or available measures. Plans and implements strategies to address gaps through observation of employee and their practice, audits, and metrics that may indicate a gap or need for improvement. Provides guidance to staff in clinical project development and management, using the PDCA process and supporting the Pathway to Excellence/Magnet journey.

• Collaborates with Quality team regarding patient safety events. Engages in action planning including evidence-based practice guidelines and disseminating necessary practice changes.

• Utilizes dashboards to maintain awareness of patient outcome measures and system patient care metrics, partnering with clinical areas to identify needs, plan, implement, and evaluate an intervention to positively impact the quality of patient care. Drives nurse sensitive indicator performance by using data to identify gaps and plan interventions to meet and exceed expectations. Provides education to support improvement of the patient experience.

• Operationalize quality initiatives by maintaining awareness and knowledge of applicable regulatory or accrediting body standards and the applicability to the clinical area. Provides leadership in design, implementation and evaluation of process improvement initiatives.

FINANCE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Builds a project plan for practice change while considering financial implications. Identifies cost-containment measures, as applicable in clinical areas, to quantify cost savings.

• Contributes to unit plans for resource utilization and capital needs, incorporating financial evaluation within project management. Drives strategies to meeting department financial target on hospital and/or unit-based scorecard.

GROWTH/INNOVATION ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Engages the learner for continued professional growth while promoting and supporting transition of staff along the Clinical Career Path. Assists in cross training and preparing staff to transition across clinical settings (e.g. Obs to ED, L&D ST to OR cross-training).

• Applies theories of change to support staff and promote evidence-based decision-making. Cultivates a climate of clinical inquiry to establish an environment where staff want to become involved in research and evidence-based practice. Guides staff in the creation and submission of clinical abstracts, posters, and presentations.

• Champions and leads innovative initiatives to obtain service line/department-specific focus or specialty designations, recognitions, or awards. Collaborates across the hospital and system in implementing change as appropriate, maintaining awareness of current changes in practice standards and applies to clinical practice setting. Completes and updates the individual development plan (IDP) on an on-going basis.

This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive; the employee will also perform other reasonably related business/job duties as assigned. Houston Methodist reserves the right to revise job duties and responsibilities as the need arises.

Qualifications:

EDUCATION

• Master's degree

• Master of Science in Nursing preferred

• Clinical Nurse Leader or Clinical Nurse Specialist preferred

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Five years clinical nursing experience with three years in a clinical specialty

LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS - REQUIRED

• RN - Registered Nurse - Texas State Licensure -- Compact Licensure - Must obtain permanent Texas license within 60 days (if establishing Texas residency) AND
• Health Services\BLS - Basic Life Support or Instructor (AHA) AND
• Magnet ANCC-recognized certification (HM)

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job, determined through on-going skills, competency assessments, and performance evaluations

• Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job, especially with regard to activities impacting patient or employee safety or security

• Ability to effectively communicate with patients, physicians, family members and co-workers in a manner consistent with a customer service focus and application of positive language principles

• Strong assessment, organizational and problem solving skills as evidenced by capacity to prioritize multiple tasks and role components

• Ability to function independently and exercise judgment in interactions with physicians, interprofessional care team and patients and their families

• Uses critical thinking skills and clinical judgment to work autonomously as defined by the Nurse Practice Act

• Acts as effective change agent

• Demonstrates proficient time management skills

• Expert knowledge of Nursing Unit's Dashboard and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores

• Demonstrates expertise in operating the electronic medical record

• Maintains instructor-level certification and professional certifications

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

WORK ATTIRE

• Uniform No
• Scrubs Yes
• Business professional Yes
• Other (department approved) No

ON-CALL*
*Note that employees may be required to be on-call during emergencies (ie. DIsaster, Severe Weather Events, etc) regardless of selection below.

• On Call* No

TRAVEL**
**Travel specifications may vary by department**

• May require travel within the Houston Metropolitan area Yes
• May require travel outside Houston Metropolitan area No

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