Patient Safety and IPC Manager

Medi Clinic; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 300,000 - 500,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a dedicated professional to enhance Patient Safety and Infection Prevention in a vibrant hospital environment. This role involves establishing a culture of safety, leading quality improvement initiatives, and implementing effective infection control measures. You will work closely with clinical teams to identify risks, conduct audits, and provide training to ensure compliance with regulatory standards. If you are passionate about healthcare quality and safety, this is an exciting opportunity to make a significant impact on patient outcomes and contribute to a safe healthcare environment.

Qualifications

• Nursing qualification required; experience in Patient Safety or Infection Control preferred.
• Proficiency in risk management systems and analytical thinking essential.

Responsibilities

• Establish and sustain Patient Safety culture through audits and training.
• Implement Infection Prevention and Control programs to ensure safety.

Skills

Risk Management

Analytical Thinking

Patient Safety Culture

Infection Prevention and Control

Quality Improvement Initiatives

Audit Compliance

Report Writing

Basic Computer Skills

Education

Nursing Qualification (Degree or Diploma)

Formal Infection Prevention Control Short Course

Postgraduate Diploma in Infection Prevention and Control

Tools

Safety Event Management System

MS Office Package

Job description

Mediclinic Cape Town| Cape Town | South Africa

Closing date: 10/04/2025
Number of positions: 1
Recruiter name: Helena Padayachee
Reference number: 59040
Workplace Type: On-site
Permanent

MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB

Patient Safety:

To establish, improve and sustain the Patient Safety behaviour, outcomes and culture in the hospital. This starts with the identification, reporting and analysis of clinical patient harm events and the use of these findings alongside hospital clinical outcomes and divisional Patient Safety priorities to plan, facilitate and execute improvement work. It includes supporting and capacitating clinical colleagues to use approved Patient Safety and Quality Improvement methods within daily clinical work to effect Continuous Improvement and better patient outcomes. Finally, the role monitors whole-system performance by tracking and mitigating risks to clinical Patient Safety and Regulatory compliance through quality control, audit and assurance activities.

Infection Prevention and Control:

To ensure the implementation and maintenance of a functional Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programme at hospital level to prevent and control infections and provide a safe environment for patients, healthcare workers and the broader community. To perform surveillance, risk identification, investigation, classification and analysis to enable targeted interventions and trend monitoring to reduce healthcare associated infections and transmission. To ensure that all healthcare associated infections are classified according to surveillance definitions and reported in order to manage risks. To assess practice based on evidence-based guidelines, provide outcomes, recommendations and support for intervention and improvement. Ensure adherence to regulatory requirements. To support and develop IPC knowledge and application and adherence to IPC principles in all aspects of healthcare delivery.

KEY RESPONSIBILITY AREAS

PATIENT SAFETY (50%)

• Identify, report and investigate Patient Safety using systems analysis methodology.
• Lead the MCSA Patient Safety culture at the hospital through Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives and awareness of patient safety risks and mitigation methods.
• Identify training needs in the hospital to enable and build a Patient Safety and Quality Improvement culture.
• Manage and oversee clinical audits and accreditations and ensure compliance with Statutory and Regulatory requirements including Medico-Legal investigations.

INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL (50%)

• Identify, mitigate and manage risks related to Infection Prevention and Control.
• Investigate, analyse and interpret clinical data and act upon findings.
• Manage and oversee IPC audits and ensure compliance with Statutory and Regulatory requirements.
• Identify training needs in the hospital and provide input in the development of training material.
• Manage key stakeholder relations.

REQUIRED EDUCATION

ESSENTIAL EDUCATION

• Nursing qualification (degree or diploma).

DESIRED EDUCATION

• Formal Infection Prevention Control short course.
• Postgraduate Diploma in Infection Prevention and Control.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

DESIRED EXPERIENCE

• 1 - 2 years Patient Safety or Quality Improvement related work, supervision of a small team.
• 1 – 2 years IPC related work, supervision of a small team.

REQUIRED JOB SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

• Demonstrates sound knowledge in the utilisation of systems related to risk management, e.g. Safety event management system.
• Demonstrates proficiency in system analysis and analytical thinking to identify factors contributing to patient harm and healthcare-associated infections and institute preventative measures.
• Proficient in facilitating team sessions in an inclusive, non-punitive manner to understand system contributing factors to Patient Safety events using appropriate tools such as systems analysis or driver diagrams.
• Demonstrates proficiency in conducting audits to ensure compliance and closing of gaps following audits (e.g. compliance to hand hygiene and environmental cleaning audits).
• Demonstrates basic knowledge and application of all relevant legislative requirements and accreditation standards.
• IPC surveillance and risk identification.
• Identification, investigation, management of outbreaks.
• Understanding and application of relevant IPC principles.
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of Quality Improvement initiatives and the implementation thereof based on the Model of Improvement and principles of QI science.
• Demonstrates proficiency in writing reports and feedback.
• Demonstrates basic computer skills (e.g. MS Office package).
• Demonstrate sound knowledge of enabling a Patient Safety culture and the models of the behavior of a ‘Just culture’.
• Interpretation and application of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) definitions.
• Demonstrates competence in the classification of adverse events.
• Demonstrates proficiency in analysing and interpreting data, understanding variation and using data for Quality Improvement rather than judgement.

All applicants will be considered, with the understanding that preference will be given in accordance with the Employment Equity Plan of Mediclinic Southern Africa, as well as internal applicants/employees that meet the minimum requirements.