Clinical Applications Analyst - North Country Hospital

Statement of Purpose

The Clinical Applications Analyst is responsible for providing clinical informatics and data analysis support to nursing, physician and/or ancillary staff at North Country Hospital. The analyst uses various resources, devices, and methods to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of health information. Tools include not only computers but also multi-disciplinary clinical teams, clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, information and communication systems. It is also essential that each Clinical Application analyst have a medical background to achieve or maintain high end-user acceptance.

Essential Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities

 Administration

 Clinical Application Analyst

 Collaborate with other clinical application analysts, unit and departmental “super-users”, and practice managers to develop, implement and maintain existing clinically focused systems,

 Serve as a liaison between Information Systems, the Clinical Informatics Team, physicians, nursing, and ancillary departments (Diagnostic Imaging, Laboratory, Cardio-Pulmonary, Rehabilitation Services, Nutritional Services, etc.), as well as staff at North Country Hospital owned clinics, including practice managers, physicians, nurses, and clinic support staff.

 Provide orientation and continuous clinical IT training to physician, nursing and/or support and ancillary staff.

 Participate in systems analysis and research related to the Clinical Information Systems (CIS) across the organization. Works with application owners to translate user needs into system specifications.

 Clinical Informatics

 Coordinate systems planning, development and implementation of clinical technology initiatives to facilitate and/or improve workflow of patient care from the physician, nursing, and/or ancillary perspective,

 Works collaboratively with the Manager of Clinical Informatics and Practice Managers to evaluate required fixes, upgrades, and enhancements, formulate implementation strategies, and resolve related issues concerning nursing care within the ambulatory environment,

 Provide leadership of unit and departmental “super-users” for revision to existing or development of new initiatives for data collection, retrieval, analysis, and interpretation to assist in optimizing patient outcomes and/or effectiveness and efficiency,

 Provide overall support and troubleshooting for all components of the information systems. Respond appropriately to requests and concerns from users or others affected by the system.

 Provide leadership in the development and/or revision of initiatives or programs related to data collection, retrieval, analysis, and interpretation to assist in optimizing patient outcomes and/or effectiveness and efficiency

 Maintain a detailed understanding and working knowledge and provide ongoing development and review of the current nursing, physician and/or ancillary information systems, their functions and their relationship to other information systems within the enterprise,

 Coordinate ongoing upgrades to clinically-related computer systems used in throughout the organization,

 Implement and maintain CIS security and confidentiality mechanisms in accordance with NCH policies and procedures,

 Maintain a detailed understanding and working knowledge of Physician use of the current clinical systems, their functions and relationships to other information systems within the enterprise.

 Data Analysis

 Provide leadership in the development and/or revision of initiatives or programs related to data collection, retrieval, analysis, and interpretation to assist in optimizing patient outcomes and/or effectiveness and efficiency.

 These activities may include database building, reporting, data collection and cataloguing

of gathered information, documentation of the process, etc. Maintain an up-to-date understanding of the process involved in these activities.

 Actively facilitates the inclusion of benefits measurements (evaluation), quality improvement initiatives, and audit activities in system design, development, implementation, and utilization,

 Provide systems support during non-working hours with on-call time as scheduled.

 Communication

 Work collaboratively to evaluate required fixes, upgrades, and enhancements, formulate implementation strategies, and resolve related issues,

 Consult and/or collaborate with committees, work groups, or task forces as needed to communicate and facilitate the ongoing progress of the development, implementation, and revision of the CIS

 Report status (successes, failures, resolutions) of projects and systems to clinical team members, co-workers and the Director of Clinical Informatics as appropriate.

 Vendor Follow Up

 Report and follow up with appropriate vendors on system errors and outstanding issues affecting performance of assigned responsible systems to assure issues are being actively resolved.

 Represent North Country Hospital in available opportunities for product enhancements and identifying strategic direction and trends.

 Planning

 Collaborate with CIS project manager(s) in evaluation of development efforts, in planning pilot and full implementations of new CIS features, and in processing user feedback and requests,

 Participate in functional and integrated testing.

 Participate in planning related to future direction of the CIS and related efforts.

 Project management where necessary to support change or expansion of technology implemented.

 Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of: current trends and issues in healthcare, nursing practice, healthcare informatics, national and state-wide standards and regulations, facility policies and procedures as related to clinical practice, and the legal implications of the CIS.

 Represent North Country Hospital at local, regional, and national meetings as appropriate to support and improve clinical care.

 Documentation

 Collaborate with respective management and clinical experts to develop policies and procedures supporting the quality, integrity and usage of clinical information.

 Education

 Assist in evaluation and development of training and in-service programs.

 Solve problems as presented by users with regard to usage of computer-related systems.

 Serve as a liaison between the Clinical Informatics Team, Information Systems Department, physician, nursing & various ancillary departments.

 Assist in orientation of new clinical personnel.

 Author and maintain user manuals, training documentation and/or help files that are complete, accurate, and current with relation to the clinical systems.

Qualifications and Skills

 Possess an in-depth, advanced clinical base of knowledge and five or more years of related clinical experience. Strong management and leadership experience working in an acute healthcare setting is preferred.

 Understand processes needed to develop plans for utilization of computerized systems and to implement the changes needed to accomplish improved workflows.

 Understand and work with workflows relating to medication administration, physician order entry, and physician documentation.

 Possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, presentation skills, advanced analytical skills, be well organized, and maintain a highly professional manner and appearance.

 Understands the interrelationships involved with data integration and interfacing.

 Demonstrate strong interpersonal skills and capabilities. Work effectively with all levels of staff and management.

 Demonstrate knowledge of team building skills, from both participant and leadership roles.

 Possess advanced knowledge related to the structure and management of databases.

 Understand the interrelationships involved with data integration and interfacing.

 Demonstrate excellent customer service skills.

 Demonstrate ability to operate in a collaborative, shared leadership environment.

 Possess a personal presence which is characterized by a sense of honesty, integrity and caring

with the ability to inspire and motivate others to promote the philosophy, mission, vision, goals and values of North Country Hospital.

Education and/or Experience

Position requires either:

1. A current clinical license in a health-related field.

OR

2. A minimum of an Associate Degree in Computer Science with at least five years experience in a

clinical working environment with an understanding or knowledge of clinical practices, clinical

documentation cycle and an understanding of the interrelationships between clinical departments

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations

A current state license is required for option 1 above.