Staff Psychologist (Patient Safety Program Manager)

Full Job Description

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program.

You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment.

Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (1 to 5 years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application.

Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

Education (1) Have a doctoral degree in psychology from a graduate program in psychology accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS), or the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) at the time the program was completed.

The specialty area of the degree must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed.

For the purpose of meeting this requirement, the term "specialty area" refers to the specific specialty areas recognized by the accrediting body and not to specific job duties that might require special skills.

Currently, APA accredits doctoral programs in the specialty areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, or combinations of two or more of those areas.

PCSAS accredits doctoral programs in psychological clinical science. CPA accredits doctoral programs in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and school psychology.

There are no job assignments in VHA that require the skills of a school psychologist; therefore, an applicant with a degree in the specialty area of school psychology is not eligible for appointment.

Strictly for the purpose of determining eligibility for appointment as a psychologist in VHA, there is no distinction between the specialty areas (with the exception of school psychology).

OR (2) Have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully complete a re- specialization program (including documentation of an approved internship completed as part of the re- specialization program) meeting both of the following conditions: (a) The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and, (b) the specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed.

OR (3) Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.

Internships (a) Have successfully completed a professional psychology internship training program that was accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed and that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed.

OR (b) New VHA psychology internship programs that are in the process of applying for APA accreditation are acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement, provided that such programs were sanctioned by the VHA Central Office Program Director for Psychology and the VHA Office of Academic Affiliations at the time that the individual was an intern; OR (c) VHA facilities that offered full-time, one-year pre-doctoral internships prior to PL 96- 151 (pre- 1979) are considered to be acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement; OR (e) Applicants who have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally- accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature may fulfill this internship requirement by having the equivalent of a one-year supervised internship experience in a site specifically acceptable to the candidate's doctoral program.

If the internship experience is not noted on the applicant's official transcript, the applicant must provide a statement from the doctoral program verifying that the equivalent of a one year supervised internship experience was completed in a site acceptable to the doctoral program.

Licensure. Hold a full, current, and unrestricted license to practice psychology at the doctoral level in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth of the United States, or the District of Columbia.

Preferred Experience: 5 years clinical experience. Prior leadership experience including program management preferred. Experience with quality, patient safety, and process improvement.

Demonstrated skills in communication, facilitation, and collaboration. Grade Determinations: GS 11 Experience. None beyond the basic requirements. GS 12 Experience.

At least one year of experience as a professional psychologist equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-11).

Psychologists who are not licensed must practice under the supervision of a licensed psychologist but with less intense supervision than at the GS-11 grade level In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 1.

Knowledge of and ability to apply a wide range of professional psychological treatments or assessment methods to a variety of patient populations. 2.

Ability to design and implement effective treatment strategies. 3. Ability to incorporate new clinical procedures. 4.

Ability to conduct research activities, such as designing and implementing clinical research projects (staff psychologists with specified research job duties). GS13 Experience.

At least two years of experience as a professional psychologist, with at least one year equivalent to the GS-12 grade level.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 1.

Knowledge of, and ability to apply, professional psychological treatments to the full range of patient populations. 2.

Ability to provide professional advice and consultation in areas related to professional 7 psychology and behavioral health. 3. Knowledge of clinical research literature.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is 13.

The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS11 to GS13. Physical Requirements: Long periods of sitting, typing, and computer use.

Include stretching, bending, and carrying items such as paper and general office supplies.

Mobility; Required to move or transport self to and from exam and waiting rooms to greet and accompany patients. Major Duties:

VA Careers - Psychologist: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/77qHlLw9Xck Total Rewards: Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Serves as an advanced practice specialist within the Quality, Safety and Value (QSV) Service at the Richard L.

Roudebush VA Medical Center.

The incumbent collaborates with interdisciplinary teams, including physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, researchers, and quality management staff, to identify and mitigate patient safety risks, such as suicide prevention, behavioral health crises, and communication breakdowns.

The Psychologist participates in facility-wide safety initiatives, including the Joint Patient Safety Reporting (JPSR) system, Root Cause Analyses (RCA), Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA), and National Performance Goals (NPGs), with a focus on behavioral health safety, psychological resilience, and system-level learning.

The incumbent also supports the National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) Patient Safety Assessment Tool (PSAT) and NCPS Salesforce Alerts/Advisories/Recalls, contributing to data-driven improvements.

DUTIES MAY INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING: Responsible for strategic implementation and maintenance of the facility-wide Patient Safety Program throughout RLR VAMC with primary focus on the comprehensive identification, awareness, utilization, analysis, and performance improvement associated with Joint Patient Safety Reporting (JPSR).

This task requires promotion of HRO principles and psychological safety in reporting, education on proper entry of incident reports, gathering and analysis of reports, development of trends and feedback presentations to facility leaders and Services, and implementation of system improvements.

Appropriately scores JPSR events based on an established severity and frequency index tool and determines actual and potential resulting harm.

Those events scored as major or catastrophic are scrutinized formally with RCA projects.

Develops clinical reviews and audits to analyze problems in depth, including identification of risks requiring review, identification of data required to define the problem, establishing data collection methodologies, analyzing the data, recommending corrective actions, and assessing effectiveness of the actions.

Provides direct management of team selection and chartering of RCAs, orientation and facilitation of multidisciplinary teams, development of strong and measurable actions and outcomes, and leads briefings provided to executive leadership summarizing events and presenting team recommendations for implementation and improvement.

Ensures the collection, input, interpretation and analyses, action planning, and outcome sustainment relevant to facility-wide projects required within the NCPS Patient Safety Assessment Tool (PSAT) including annual Maintains facility-wide administrative controls aimed to ensure implementation and sustainment of approved Actions and Outcome Measures resulting from completed RCA projects.

This includes tracking and trending of items, provision of status reports to leadership, and collation of data for use in external review processes demonstrating compliance Development and monitoring of patient safety-related elements within various performance measures including SAIL Patient Safety Indicators and VISN High Reliability Operational Plans.

Patient Safety Indicators monitored include pressure ulcers, deaths among surgical inpatients, inpatient falls with serious fracture, and postoperative complications including hemorrhage, kidney injury, respiratory failure, pulmonary embolism, sepsis, and wounds.

Work Schedule: 7:00am-3:30pm Monday - Friday Compressed/Flexible: Not Eligible Telework: Not Eligible Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #:92966-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.

Contact , the EDRP Coordinator vhaedrpprogramsupport@va.gov for questions/assistance. Learn more