Applications Specialist

About Us:

As a not-for-profit organization, Mass General Brigham is committed to supporting patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community by leading innovation across our system. Founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Mass General Brigham supports a complete continuum of care including community and specialty hospitals, a managed care organization, a physician network, community health centers, home care and other health-related entities. Several of our hospitals are teaching affiliates of Harvard Medical School, and our system is a national leader in biomedical research.
We’re focused on a people-first culture for our system’s patients and our professional family. That’s why we provide our employees with more ways to achieve their potential. Mass General Brigham is committed to aligning our employees’ personal aspirations with projects that match their capabilities and creating a culture that empowers our managers to become trusted mentors. We support each member of our team to own their personal development—and we recognize success at every step.
Our employees use the Mass General Brigham values to govern decisions, actions and behaviors. These values guide how we get our work done: Patients, Affordability, Accountability & Service Commitment, Decisiveness, Innovation & Thoughtful Risk; and how we treat each other: Diversity & Inclusion, Integrity & Respect, Learning, Continuous Improvement & Personal Growth, Teamwork & Collaboration.

General Summary/Overview Statement:

Incumbent will report to the Manager, Blood Bank and Donors Services IS. The person in this role will be a member of the group supporting Blood Bank and Donor Services applications used within the Enterprise, with a primary focus on Blood Bank system operations and integration. They will participate in the implementation, maintenance and support, training, enhancement and or replacement of instrumentation and integration that advance the strategic vision and operational goals of the clinical road map and is considered a domain expert in the build and integration of Blood Bank instrumentation and systems.

They may own multiple analysis, support and/or project efforts of medium to high complexity for BH Lab Information Systems and may be required to coordinate and the activity of other staff members in our highly matrixed environment. They may be required to assume the role of project manager on some initiatives of medium to high complexity. They participate in and guide design, testing, implementation of system solutions, considering and soliciting input from all impacted clinical areas that are impacted by Blood Bank systems. They will provide on-going support and maintenance of the integration between applications and instrumentation. As projects arise, this person may assume other responsibilities.

The Blood Bank Applications Specialist demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to manage clinical data and systems independently, accurately, and effectively with attention to detail and confidentiality. They perform thorough business process, workflow, systems, and/or data analysis.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manages IS initiatives within the context of the larger environment including competing priorities, staffing levels, budgetary concerns.

• Provides appropriate and timely problem escalation reporting with potential solutions and/or risk mitigation strategies to IS and/or hospital management

• Demonstrates extensive knowledge of Blood Bank and Blood Administration applications and workflows, and incorporates that into implementation, support, and enhancements of the clinical laboratory instrumentation and integration.

• Commonly assumes the role of Project Manager, managing project resources to drive project(s) to successful completion, leveraging in-depth knowledge of the above-mentioned applications, related systems and workflows used to provide the solution

• Acts as liaison to user groups, providing excellent customer support

• Provides feedback and guidance to technical team(s) as it relates to business requirements

• Without formal management responsibility, may lead 5 or more resources on multiple support/project/analysis efforts, and assigns/delegates assignments as appropriate

• Provides direction and guidance to team members to facilitate timely and quality results

• Fosters a positive team environment through leadership, mentoring, and coaching

• Serves as central point person and escalation point for end-user issues if needed

• Creates and maintains integration support, enhancement, and project documentation

• Independently creates and executes test plans

• Provide on-going support of live applications including but not limited to on-site and telephone support, system maintenance, system enhancements, bug fixes, and upgrades

• Provide 24-hour on-call support on a rotating basis with other BH Blood Bank Systems team members to address urgent issues that cannot be handled by the Partners Help Desk

• Provides performance evaluation feedback to the direct supervisor(s) of team members

• Pursues opportunities for self-development

• Stays current with Partners and industry trends and features & functionality as they relate to job responsibilities, and able to incorporate impact of trends, features, and functionality into how systems are designed, tested, implemented, and supported

• Bachelors Degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and experience; advanced training in a related field desired

• 5 or more years clinical application and/or or health (allied, direct care) professional experience required

• 5 or more years experience in information systems in a healthcare organization preferred

• 3 or more years experience with Blood Bank applications; experience with HCLL Transfusion and/or Sunquest/Clinisys Blood Bank application preferred

• 2 or more years project management exposure using established methodologies and tools in a complex environment desired

Skills/Abilities/Competencies Required

• Expert level laboratory Informatics and workflow knowledge

• Understands the flow of data through complex architecture; understands the consequences that erroneous data could have on patient care

• Able to identify complex problems, their probable causes, their impact on operations, report them to the appropriate parties, offer possible solutions, and decide on the optimal course of action; able to independently and/or collaboratively bring problems to complete resolution

• Demonstrates extensive knowledge of inpatient clinical processes and workflows, and is able to incorporate into the support and enhancement of applications

• Can coordinate and complete multiple complex tasks to completion independently

• Able to provide 24x7 user support which may include direct user support, executing a back-up plan for system downtimes, and reporting/responding to user issues

• Demonstrates ability to prioritize tasks with an appreciation for critical paths

• Able to self-manage, assuming full ownership of overall outcomes from start to finish

• Demonstrates comfort facilitating group efforts towards a successful completion of goals

• Able to independently create complex test scenarios and test scripts and execute testing accordingly in an integrated environment while incorporating quality management concepts

• Able to coordinate system implementation including needs analysis, user set-up, training, and day-to-day support with an appreciation for budget implications

• Exemplary administrative, analytical, problem-solving, written and verbal communication, and facilitation and presentation skills

• Demonstrated ability to assimilate and understand new software releases and succeed in a changing environment

• Ability to cooperatively and effectively work with people from all organizational levels and build consensus through negotiation and diplomacy

• Able to understand the political climate of the organization and act accordingly

• Ability to understand the work environment and competing priorities in conjunction with developing and meeting defined goals and objectives

• Able to delegate tasks appropriately

• Strong coaching, mentoring, and diplomacy skills

• Exhibits strong professional persona

• Strong PC skills required with knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, Project, and PowerPoint preferred

• Ability to be flexible, versatile, and adaptable and work within a complex, multi-site environment

• Ability to relate job responsibilities to hospital operations and the strategic objectives of Mass General Brigham and respective institutions

• Demonstrated commitment to excellence and delivery of high quality customer service

Working Conditions

• Full-time position in predominantly remote environment

• May require occasional to hospital sites

• Other travel may be required to attend meetings and professional development sessions

• Participates in 24/7 on-call rotation beeper coverage for user support as assigned

• As projects and priorities dictate, must be available to work non-standard business hours, such as evenings, nights, weekends and holidays when necessary

Supervisory Responsibility

• No direct reports. At team level, provide guidance, coaching, and mentoring to team members Contribute to reviews for team members

Mass General Brigham is an Equal Opportunity Employer. By embracing diverse skills, perspectives, and ideas, we choose to lead. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, military service, genetic information, and/or other status protected under the law. We will ensure that all individuals with a disability are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment.