Administrative Intern- Performance Improvement and Patient Safety

The Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Department at Children’s National Hospital works to foster a culture of patient and employee safety within the hospital by proactively enacting safe systems and responding to safety events to prevent future harm. The intern will be responsible for assisting on quality improvement projects, attending multidisciplinary meetings to take minutes, and preparing for safety and quality events in the hospital. The intern will have opportunities to pursue projects of interest, and quality improvement research with outside departments, if desired. Additionally, the intern has opportunities to shadow CNH physicians and other healthcare providers in in-patient and out-patient settings to learn about quality and safety on the frontline. 

The Administrative Intern is a critical contributor to our department’s and organizational safety and quality mission.  This position directly supports quality and patient safety by delivering error prevention training to new hires, reinforcing a strong culture of safety from day one, supporting the daily safety check in call, and closely supporting our various offerings in quality improvement training for various levels of staff across the organization.  The intern is deeply involved in the project management of multiple high priority harm reduction initiatives, including CAUTI, CLABSI, Unplanned Extubations (UE), Surgical Site Infections (SSI), and the Late Rescue Collaborative—helping drive progress, accountability, and measurable outcomes across these teams.

Minimum Education: Student must be enrolled in an undergraduate or higher level degree program, and have completed at least one semester of classes. Must have a minimum 3.0 GPA. Exceptions are made based upon qualifications and experience. Required

Minimum Experience : zero

Functional Accountabilities
Communications
 

• Work and communicate with internal and external customers and staff to meet their needs in a polite, courteous, and cooperative manner

• Express information to individuals or groups effectively , whether verbal or written in a clear , convincing and organized manner .

• Listen to others and respond appropriately .

• Make an effort to follow policy and cooperate with supervisors.

• Refer non-standard questions and problems to higher levels.

Support
 

• Use resources and equipment needed to perform each task.

• Use established filing and data systems, functions, and/or procedures.

Safety
 

• Speak up when team members appear to exhibit unsafe behavior or performance

• Continuously validate and verify information needed for decision making or documentation

• Stop in the face of uncertainty and takes time to resolve the situation

• Demonstrate accurate, clear and timely verbal and written communication

• Actively promote safety for patients, families, visitors and co-workers

• Attend carefully to important details - practicing Stop, Think, Act and Review in order to self-check behavior and performance

Organizational Accountabilities
Organizational Accountabilities (Staff)
Organizational Commitment/Identification 

• Anticipate and responds to customer needs; follows up until needs are met

Teamwork/Communication

• Demonstrate collaborative and respectful behavior

• Partner with all team members to achieve goals

• Receptive to others’ ideas and opinions

Performance Improvement/Problem-solving

• Contribute to a positive work environment

• Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to change

• Identify opportunities to improve clinical and administrative processes

• Make appropriate decisions, using sound judgment

Cost Management/Financial Responsibility

• Use resources efficiently

• Search for less costly ways of doing things

Safety

• Speak up when team members appear to exhibit unsafe behavior or performance

• Continuously validate and verify information needed for decision making or documentation

• Stop in the face of uncertainty and takes time to resolve the situation

• Demonstrate accurate, clear and timely verbal and written communication

• Actively promote safety for patients, families, visitors and co-workers

• Attend carefully to important details - practicing Stop, Think, Act and Review in order to self-check behavior and performance