Principal Patient Safety Specialist

Skills at this level

Serious Safety Event Investigation

— Conducts thorough investigations of patient safety events using clinical knowledge, reconstructing event timelines and identifying contributing clinical and process failures.

Root Cause Analysis and Systems Thinking

— Analyzes patient safety data to identify areas of potential improvement, applying system-level thinking and root cause analysis to determine underlying causes of harm rather than proximate errors.

Human Factors and Just Culture Application

— Applies the science of human factors, Just Culture, and other patient safety principles in the health care environment to distinguish system flaws from individual accountability and guide corrective action.

Regulatory and Accreditation Compliance

— Maintains patient safety compliance with local, state, and federal reporting obligations and ensures the organization meets National Patient Safety Goals as outlined by The Joint Commission.

Mandatory Event Reporting

— Completes reporting of serious reportable events to local, state, and federal agencies, meeting delegated regulatory reporting requirements and deadlines.

Patient Safety Program Development

— Develops, implements, and monitors patient safety programs, policies, and procedures in collaboration with clinical and non-clinical staff to reduce preventable harm.

Proactive Risk Identification

— Identifies latent patient safety risks before harm occurs, using unit-based safety approaches such as CUSP to surface hazards and prioritize mitigation.

Safety Training and Facilitation

— Develops and delivers patient safety training programs, tests employee patient-safety knowledge, and facilitates improvement, change management, process redesign, and risk reduction workshops.

Patient Safety Data Analysis and Reporting

— Analyzes data and trends to drive decisions and prepares committee and leadership reports on adverse events, metrics, and safety-program performance.

Patient-Reported Safety Measurement

— Uses patient-reported safety concern tools (e.g., PC PMOS) and PROMs/PREMs to capture patient perspectives on care safety and integrate them into risk assessment.

Program Management and Mentoring

— Manages comprehensive quality and safety programs across hospital and outpatient settings and mentors safety specialists in investigation and improvement methods.

Enterprise Stakeholder Alignment

— Fosters cross-functional and system-wide relationships beyond quality and patient safety, aligning clinical and executive stakeholders who do not report to the safety leader on harm-reduction priorities.