Facility: Kennestone Hospital

Job Summary:

The Professional Educator for Kennestone Sterile Processing Department is a member of an interdisciplinary team and acts as the lead for learning in their environment. As such, they will assume a variety of roles such as subject matter expert, coach, change agent, researcher, and consultant. The Professional Educator assumes responsibility for the oversight of learning and development needs of team members for whom they have been designated to support. This role is expert in assesses learning needs, develops and executes programs to meet those needs and evaluates the effectiveness of those efforts and utilizes the ADDIE framework (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). As a member of the interdisciplinary team, it is expected the individual upholds and supports WellStar in achieving it mission and goals, fosters communication and collaborative practice between disciplines and serves as a positive role model to promote professional practice. In addition to assessing team member needs within their defined scope of responsibility, they must also be cognizant of system level goals to ensure their work reflects these imperatives and is translated into sound educational activities designed to influence behavior and practice change. This work is done in partnership with system and facility resources to ensure alignment and sustainability. The scope of the responsibility for the Professional Educator will include both local and system activities but effort in these domains will be dictated by the role into which they are hired.

Core Responsibilities and Essential Functions:

Leader of Learning
- Leads learning need assessments on a regular basis as a means to inform the design, development, implementation and evaluation of learning and development activities or programs.
- Creates learning programs to support change in a process, policy, or practice with the goal of improving the care for the communities served
- Utilizes adult learning theory as a framework for the creation of best practice learning activities and ensures competency after learning initiative.
- Collaborates with the interdisciplinary team to ensure learning activities are inclusive of all disciplines when appropriate.
- Participates in the change management process through implementation of educational initiatives with a focus on sustainability of practice and behavior change.
- Supports the systems competency model annually and at onboarding to ensure that team members are supported in the process. Coach/Mentor/Consultant Serves as resource to the team, leadership and medical staff as appropriate.
- Serves as a coach/mentor for newly hired team members or students to ensure they are acculturate to their work environment and are supported in their onboarding program.
- Partners with preceptors/orientees to ensure all aspects of competency assessment are occurring as expected.
- Connects with academic partners to facilitate the experiences of our learners.
- Serves as a consultant as the lead for learning to guide others in the appropriate assessment, designs, implementation and evaluation of learning activities and program. Professional Development
- Fosters a culture of lifelong learning and personal development within team members.
- Partners with internal and external resources (e.g. OL, Career Development, professional organizations) to ensure team members are aware of and how to access relevant resources that support their career and professional development. Evidence Based Practice and Research
- Utilizes evidence to guide the development of learning programs with regards to content, methods and evaluation.
- Partners with subject matter experts, to ensure educational initiatives support current policies and expected practices based on evidence.
- Utilizes local and system quality data to drive educational programs and competency verification.
- Supports the implementation of Lean and associated tools and methodologies as a means to improve practice and engage teams around improvement. Resources and Support
- Upholds and teaches all health care system/organizational policies and procedures and clinical competencies put forth by this job description and professional association including legal, regulatory and accreditation requirements and standards ensuring by way of example, such goals as TJC Patient Safety Goals and WellStar Health Systems’ safety absolutes
- Ensure the maintenance of relevant competencies as the subject matter expert as a professional educator, in order to maintain credibility and relevance to the work.

Required Minimum Education:

Graduate of an accredited/approved program with a Bachelor’s degree in related field. Master’s degree Preferred

Required Minimum License(s) and Certification(s):

Additional Licenses and Certifications

Required Minimum Experience:

Experience in educator role Preferred and
Minimum 1 year experience in related field Required

Required Minimum Skills:

Ability to read, write and speak English language, optimize the use of technology to support learning and holds basic computer skills; Strong interpersonal, collaborative skills along with customer service skills required; Ability to function in a fast paced environment and respond to emergencies in using a decisive, composed and respectful manner; Possess excellent time management skills; possess a strong understanding of learning adult learning theories and can utilize multi-methods to implement training/development.