Oversees the Spine Program, which encompasses upholding certification requirements established by the DNV for the Orthopedics/Spine Center of Excellence. Directly accountable for data collection, review, analysis, and trending of quality metrics, as well as maintaining a concurrent joint registry that complies with DNV certification standards. Actively participates in program planning, organization, and development in collaboration with Hospital Leadership, the Medical Director of Spine, and members of the multidisciplinary team.
Closely collaborates with specialty care departments and patient care units to ensure comprehensive spine patient care from pre-hospitalization to rehabilitation, acting as a liaison between physician practices, community resources, and the hospital. Closely collaborates with the Spine Medical Director and Neuroscience leadership is essential to align center administrative operations with established business objectives and strategic growth goals. Serves as a resource for facilitating staff development and overseeing special projects, while also functioning as a quality and program process improvement coordinator. Supports educational initiatives identified through specific data trends reported by the data and medical director of the program. Advances bedside nursing practice to improve the assessment of patient and family needs while educating on spine related conditions.


Essential Job Functions
• Accountable for planning, managing, and evaluating the administrative operations of the Billings Clinic Spine Program to ensure optimal productivity and smooth daily patient flow.
• Effectively allocates resources to meet service demand, ensuring patient and provider satisfaction, and ensuring compliance with relevant regulatory requirements.
• Works with multidisciplinary team developing, implementing, and evaluating standards of care and protocols to improve patient care, practice, and systems. Consults across the continuum to ensure optimal patient transition plans.
• Collaborates with clinical leaders to ensure a well-coordinated, multidisciplinary program of care and education across settings.
• Integrates related research into practice, educating organization on any clinical trials, and tracking research while participating in spine research.
• Identifies key outcomes specific to spine centered-care management, analyzing current educational initiatives, planning for improvements, and systematically integrating them into practice within the Billings Clinic system while coordinating with regional sites for continued improvement on spine education and implementation of evidence based best practice standards.
• Collects, reviews, and analyzes information for evaluating patient care outcomes.
• Maintains the spine registry for the purpose of performance improvement by measuring and evaluating plans to improve both the processes of care and the outcome. Supervises the collection, coding, scoring, and development processes for validation of data.
• Facilitates in designing the registry to facilitate performance improvement activities, trend reports, and research while protecting confidentiality.
• Coordinates spine care management utilizing effective communication across the continuum of spine care, including planning and implementation of clinical protocols/practice management guidelines, monitoring care of in-hospital patients, serving as a resource for clinical practice, and discharge planning.
• Identifies multidisciplinary opportunities for improvement in a timely manner and assists team members with problem resolution through plan development, implementation, and evaluation.
• Monitors quality, continuity of care, clinical outcomes and system issues related to care delivery, developing quality filters, audits, and case reviews, identifying trends and sentinel events, and helping to outline remedial actions while maintaining confidentiality.
• Coordinates spine committee and multidisciplinary spine peer review meetings.
• Participates in case review, standardizing practice guidelines, and directs community spine education and prevention programs.
• Stabilizes the complex network of many disciplines that work together to provide high-quality care, serving as an internal resource for physicians and staff in all Billings Clinic departments, and acting as a liaison for Spine Care with the community and state.
• Works with Spine Medical Director to develop and evaluate evidence-based guidelines, pathways, and protocols to reduce inappropriate variation in care.
• Participates in research selection, analysis, and distribution of findings, and facilitates protocol design for accurate data collection, feedback, and analysis.
• Facilitates and ensures that comprehensive, multidisciplinary collaboration of spine care occurs with the patient, family, physicians, and other health care providers. Identifies fragmentation/duplication and assists the team in defining effective utilization of resources.
• Provides expert nursing care in an expanded role to patients with spine care.
• Provides consultation to nursing, pharmacy, medical staff, and others to develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive plan of care, including a discharge plan, for patients with spine related conditions to achieve desired patient outcomes.
• Verbally communicates pertinent information with key clinicians in a timely manner. Utilizes appropriate documentation tools for effective written communication.
• Provides post hospital contact to evaluate transition and outcome. Personalizes educational interventions to match the patients' and families' unique learning needs, barriers, and preferences.
• Provides and supports spine related education for Billings Clinic and regional staff development.
• Develops and delivers educational programs for all staff that care for patients who have spine related conditions. Provides reinforcement of spine education to patients and family.
• Leadership
• Works collaboratively with other nursing peers to improve patient care and advance nursing practice.
• Assists in developing and evaluating written policies and procedures pertinent to the program.
• Participates in professional organization activities.
• Promotes cost effective behavior in staff throughout the continuum of care.
• Advances the practice of nursing through publications and presentations in collaboration with researchers and clinical experts, evaluates effectiveness of select initiatives.
• Identifies needs and sets goals for own growth and development; meets all mandatory organizational and departmental requirements.


• DNV Advanced Orthopedic & Spine Education Requirements
Required to complete 8 education hours annually for DNV Advanced Orthopedic and Spine Certification Requirements.