The role of the Nurse Consultant for Quality is to improve the overall end-to-end member quality and care experience with services delivered through Northwest Permanente (NWP) resulting in sustained market leading performance and satisfaction. To ensure a member/patient and family centered culture of excellence focused on Safe, Timely, Effective, Efficient, Equitable, Patient Centered (STEEEP).

Success will be accomplished by providing expert consultation to drive evidence-based practices/tactics, member advocacy, data interpretation and analysis, member loyalty and retention strategies via collaborative efforts with key organizational partners (leaders, physicians, staff, other departments).

Join our medical group

Northwest Permanente is a self-governed, physician-led, multi-specialty group of 1,500 physicians, surgeons, and clinicians, caring for 630,000 members in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation's preeminent health care systems, a benchmark for comprehensive, integrated, value-based, and high-quality care.

Major Responsibilities / Essential Functions

QUALITY STRATEGY AND INTEGRATION:

• Evaluate, define, and implement opportunities for alignment and integration across high priority quality and service metrics and operational strategies for NWP. Examples include but not limited to: Patient Support Tool, population health segmentation assessments
• Structures, creates, and presents formal communications which are clear, succinct, and compelling
• Proactively identifies needs that may benefit from resources; identifies increasingly more valuable improvements to enhance strategies and analysis

QUALITY PROCESS IMPROVEMENT:

• Leads end-to-end clinical-focused work in quality at the direction of the senior nurse consultant in the department
• Leads coordination of the clinical content that fall under the purview of the department from other region(s) used in the NW, ensuring alignment and updates consistent with the committees in those region(s)
• Works in collaboration with NWP physicians from the involved specialties to update content to align with NWP physician practice and KPNW workflows and coordinates flow of information from primary sources to NWP and updated documents to HP for implementation
• Systematically review progress to ensure value is added / or requirements and milestones are met
• Guides work and teams to effectively achieve objectives and outcomes

QUALITY DATA LITERACY:

• Establish and maintain data literacy and expertise for quality measures in an effort to provide accurate and effective assessment, consultation, and improvement opportunities to leaders and teams
• Consult and communicate with internal (e.g. Care Delivery Analytics, Market Research) and external expertise as needed to ensure ongoing understanding of data, survey limitations, and strategy for collecting patient feedback
• Identify key issues and help define problems for deeper analysis
• Work with team to analyze data and synthesize results to develop pertinent and insightful solutions
• Help drive the creation of strategic and targeted improvement plans to drive improvement based on evidence and best practice
• Use appropriate tools and methodologies to review, design and/or implement products and services

COLLABORATION:

• Partners with senior consultant for quality in the department and operations leaders throughout the organization to better provide support guidance to customers, improve efficiency, and drive outcomes to meet annual High Priority Measures for quality
• Communicate and explain complex ideas in a concise and simplified manner
• Build consensus among team members
• Help create a team environment that supports the participation and development of others
• Works collaboratively and effectively in a team environment to achieve high levels of colleague satisfaction
• Perform other duties and special projects as required

Minimum Education

• Bachelor's degree in nursing

Minimum Work Experience

• Five (5) years of registered nursing experience in a variety of settings including quality, ambulatory, training, and protocol/policy development

Additional Requirements

• Demonstrated understanding of clinical and operational processes, staff licensure/certification, clinical competency requirements, and scope of practice concepts
• Ability to analyze, integrate and use quantitative data informed decisions about quality improvement and collaborating with clinical staff, support staff, and team to achieve expected outcomes
• Ability to lead in a culturally diverse environment and promote culturally competent care
• Ability to communicate effectively in written and spoken English
• Ability to attend to details, prioritize and complete multiple tasks independently in a fast-paced environment and following agreed upon timeline
• Thoroughly knowledgeable of the Oregon and Washington Nurse Practice Act, The Joint Commission, QA, and OR & WA nursing regulations

Required Licensure, Certification, Registration (LCR)

• Current Oregon or Washington RN license required

Preferred Education

• Master's degree from an accredited college/university in nursing, healthcare, or related field

Preferred Work Experience and Qualifications

• Minimum of ten (10) years health care in a variety of settings including quality, ambulatory, training, and protocol/policy development
• National certification in related clinical field
• Five (5) years' experience within Kaiser Permanente, preferably Northwest Permanente
• Operational healthcare experience with a focus in clinical quality and patient safety
• Ability to apply process improvement and project management principles
• Ability to performance manage, coach, and develop staff
• Ability to understand and utilize data to improve performance
• Ability to lead and implement change management and process improvement activities
• Ability to establish partnerships with peers to create a culture of commitment to patient focused service, excellent support of clinical review practices, innovation, compliance, safety, and integrity
• Care management/disability management

Equal opportunity employer

At Northwest Permanente, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation, and related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Northwest Permanente believes that equity, inclusion, and diversity among our employees are critical to our success, and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.