Clinical Quality Improvement Nurse
Dell Medical School
Austin, TX

Clinical Quality Nurse

Purpose

The Clinical Quality Nurse plays a vital role in enhancing clinical outcomes, safety initiatives, and operational efficiency through data-driven continuous quality improvement (CQI) initiatives. This position leads multidisciplinary teams in analyzing performance metrics, uncovering opportunities for improvement, and ensuring continuous readiness for regulatory surveys. Reporting to the Associate Director of Clinical Quality, the Clinical Quality Nurse serves as a trusted consultant, skillful educator, and effective facilitator while fostering an environment of ongoing enhancement and excellence. By aligning improvement strategies with both organizational goals and regulatory mandates, the Clinical Quality Nurse delivers tangible advancements in patient safety, care delivery, and compliance.

Responsibilities

Leads Multidisciplinary Quality Improvement Initiatives

• Facilitates team collaboration to support business outcomes and clinical excellence.
• Develops and implements CQI plans using methodologies such as PDSA and Lean.
• Champions change and helps others adapt to new tasks and processes.
• Encourages team members to follow procedures and policies while fostering innovation.

Conducts Data Analysis and Performance Reporting

• Extracts and analyzes clinical and operational data to identify trends and improvement opportunities.
• Conducts statistical analysis to determine reliability and confidence intervals.
• Creates charts, graphs, and narrative summaries using multiple data systems.
• Presents quality metrics to teams and leadership to demonstrate impact.

Supports Regulatory Compliance and Survey Readiness

• Ensures continuous readiness for CMS, TJC, NCQA, and other regulatory bodies.
• Participates in survey preparation, mock audits, and documentation reviews.
• Develops and monitors corrective action plans to address compliance gaps.
• Serves as a subject matter expert on internal policies and external regulations.

Facilitates Risk Management and Patient Safety Activities

• Conducts root cause analyses, failure mode and effect analyses, and other assessments.
• Reviews event reports and escalates high-risk issues for resolution.
• Assists with developing targeted improvement strategies based on findings from audits, claim denials, and satisfaction surveys.
• Promotes a safety culture and supports incident prevention strategies.

Educates and Consults with Clinical Staff

• Delivers educational programs on regulatory requirements, internal concerns, and system usage.
• Coaches staff on documentation standards, safety protocols, and quality practices.
• Participates in committees and projects to influence policy and procedure development.
• Builds collaborative partnerships to improve compliance and health outcomes.

Develops and Maintains Quality Reporting Tools

• Designs dashboards and reports to track KPIs and benchmark performance.
• Integrates quality metrics into operational workflows and decision-making.
• Documents and analyzes trends, errors, and reporting findings.
• Supports business-specific projects with creative, data-informed solutions.

Required Qualifications

• Current RN license in the State of Texas
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification
• Bachelor’s degree in Nursing (BSN).
• 3 years of experience in a clinical setting with at least 2 years in clinical quality
• Relevant education or experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, or Public Health.
• 2 years of experience in acute care, ambulatory care, or multi-site healthcare systems.
• Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ)
• Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) certification
• Certification in Risk Management or Patient Safety (e.g., CPPS)

Salary Range

$82,000 + depending on qualifications

Working Conditions

• Standard office equipment
• Repetitive use of a keyboard
• May be exposed to such occupational hazards as communicable diseases, blood borne pathogens, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, hazardous medications and disoriented or combative patients, or others.

Required Materials

• Resume/CV

• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded.  Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.