The Medication Safety Officer (MSO) is the organization’s authoritative expert in safe medication use and an innovative leader that is able to set a vision and direction for safe medication use. The Medication Safety Officer identifies opportunities to improve the medication-use system and leads the implementation of medication error-prevention strategies. ## The Medication Safety Officer assumes responsibility for one or more of the functional areas within the department of Pharmacy Services. The functional areas include: @@ Day-to-day review of all medication occurrence reports and collaboration with Pharmacy, Risk Department, and Patient Safety to assign responsibility for investigation and reporting of medication safety risks and incidents for all areas of Billings Clinic. @@ Investigation of all medication-related occurrences and near misses to include creating a timeline of events and decisions, interviews with all clinical staff who had direct or indirect involvement in the incident, and preparation of a detailed event summary from the perspectives of those involved; @@ Assisting with the implementation of medication-related RCA recommendations through staff education and regular auditing of the implementation and maintenance phases of the system improvement plan. @@ Is the medication safety expert serving on Patient Safety Incident Review Group (PSIRG) and Serious Safety Event Reduction (SSER) responsible for in-depth review and presentation of all medication-related occurrences. @@ Leads organizational proactive medication-use risk assessments.

The Medication Safety Officer participates in budgeting processes and performs human resource management functions to include interviewing, hiring, orientation and training, performance appraisals, coaching/counseling and mentoring, and disciplinary actions up to and including discharge as coordinated with the Pharmacy Leadership and Human Resources.

Essential Job Functions
• GENERAL
Supports and models behaviors consistent with Billings Clinic’s mission, vision, values, code of business conduct and service expectations. Meets all mandatory organizational and departmental requirements. Maintains competency in all organizational, departmental and outside agency standards as it relates to the environment, employee, patient safety or job performance.
Supports medication safety activities and practices through leadership, utilizing the knowledge of the science of patient safety, high reliability organization, process improvement principles, and quality standards for improved patient care and services.
Collaborates with clinicians to coordinate medication safety activities and event investigations and reporting to appropriate Billings Clinic committees and Senior Leaders.
• PATIENT SAFETY
Assists in the development of methodologies to fulfill the organization’s strategic initiatives for medication safety management and improvement.
Educates and assists Medical, Nursing, Pharmacy, and other clinical staff, Senior Leadership, and Billings Clinic management in identifying and capitalizing upon opportunities for improvement and facilitates cross-functional team development, when appropriate.
Identifies and arranges for consulting assistance from internal or external sources as required to meet the needs of the Patient Safety Committee, medical staff, or others requiring medication safety education.
Assists in the development and delivery of annual training and education in medication safety standards.
Reviews and implements action items to ensure safe use of “smart” infusion pumps and automated dispensing cabinets.
Reviews, communicates, and implements action items related to medication shortages.
• RISK MANAGEMENT
Cooperates and collaborates regularly with Risk Management for both risk prevention measures and clinical event investigation for the hospital, clinics, and long-term care areas.
Provides support to Risk Management for resolution of serious customer complaints and issues related to the quality of patient care and/or services and imminent safety/risk situations including mandatory reporting to FDA for serious patient/employee injury or death resulting from a medication. Adherence to state and federal disclosure of health information obligation and restrictions is critical. Maintains all peer investigation case files and ensures maximum protection from discoverability.
Develops and maintains medication safety event profiles on units, departments, and individual providers as needed and ensures integration of that information into reports available for regulatory agencies such as
Reviews, codes, and investigates medication-related occurrence reports, adverse drug events, over sedations, and controlled substance diversion patterns and occurrences. Presents synopsis of selected cases to PSIRG. Recommends plan for taking corrective action.
• GENERAL
Assists the Director in the development and communication of department specific and Billings Clinic policies and procedures.
Participates in both short and long term planning for the department.
Identifies need and sets goals for own growth and development in collaboration with the Director of Pharmacy; meets all mandatory organizational and department requirements.
Maintains competency in all organizational, departmental and outside agency environmental, employee or patient safety standards relevant to job performance.
Performs other duties as assigned or needed to meet the needs of the department/organization.
Performs human resource management functions to include interviewing, hiring, orientation/training, coaching/counseling on daily performance issues, performance reviews and disciplinary actions. Coordinates and facilitates peer interview processes. Responsible to ensure that 30-60-90 day reviews are productive and meaningful for new hires. Coordinates performance appraisal process to include initiates information gathering processes for performance reviews from peers and clinical department leadership, and delivery of the performance review.
Provides leadership and supervision to direct reporting staff and assists with professional and technical job related issues, resolution of problems, issues or concerns that may arise from questions received from the staff while maintaining a focus on quality outcomes.