Clinical Education Director in Scottsdale, Arizona at EXALT HEALTH REHABILITATION HOSPITAL SCOTTSDALE LL

The Clinical Education Director (CED) designs, implements, and evaluates hospital-wide educational programs to enhance clinical competencies, ensure regulatory compliance, and support high-quality patient care. Reporting directly to the CEO, this role serves as an objective, interdisciplinary asset across all clinical departments. The CED acts as the hospital’s subject matter expert and "Superuser" for the WellSky Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform and leads critical training initiatives, including CMS GG Section functional coding. The CED collaborates closely with the hospital executive team to align educational initiatives with quality metrics, clinical outcomes, and strategic goals.

Core Responsibilities

Leadership Collaboration & Partnership

• Executive Alignment (Reporting to the CEO): Provide regular updates on hospital-wide compliance, educational initiatives, and onboarding metrics. Escalate systematic documentation or competency risks that impact hospital performance.
• Nursing Excellence (Partnering with the Chief Nursing Officer): Jointly identify nursing competency gaps, design onboarding pathways for new nursing staff, and facilitate ongoing skills labs (e.g., wound care, bladder management, and emergency response).
• Interdisciplinary Alignment (Partnering with the Therapy Director): Coordinate joint education initiatives to ensure seamless integration between nursing and therapy workflows, specifically touching on mobility, positioning, and functional progression.
• Quality & Compliance (Partnering with the Quality Director): Analyze hospital performance metrics (such as fall rates, pressure injuries, and readmissions) to build corrective, data-driven educational interventions.

System & Regulatory Specialization

• WellSky EHR Superuser:
• Serve as the hospital's primary point of contact for WellSky troubleshooting, optimization, and system updates.
• Train all incoming clinical staff (nursing, therapy, physicians) on proper documentation workflows to ensure accuracy, compliance, and efficiency.
• Audit documentation practices within the system and build targeted re-education plans for users struggling with workflow adherence.
• CMS Section GG Code Training:
• Own the training and auditing program for Section GG functional abilities and goals (Self-Care and Mobility), which are critical for IRF-PAI reporting and Medicare reimbursement.
• Ensure the interdisciplinary team (nursing and therapy) maintains exact calibration on scoring definitions to prevent under- or over-scoring patient capabilities.
• Conduct routine audits of admission and discharge Section GG scores to ensure documentation fully supports the clinical reality of the patient.

General Clinical Education & Onboarding

• Manage the general orientation and onboarding framework for all newly hired clinical staff.
• Oversee annual competency assessments, CPR/BLS tracking, and mandatory regulatory compliance education (OSHA, Joint Commission, CMS).
• Lead the clinical student program, acting as the primary liaison for local universities and nursing/therapy programs.

Education & Licensure

• Active Clinical License: Registered Nurse (RN) is highly preferred; Physical Therapist (PT), Occupational Therapist (OT), or Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) with extensive inpatient rehab experience will also be considered.
• Degree: Bachelor’s degree in a clinical field required; Master’s degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, or Education preferred.

Experience & Skills

• Minimum 3–5 years of clinical experience in an Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) or Acute Care setting.
• Minimum 2 years of experience in a clinical educator, preceptor, or leadership role.
• Technical Proficiency: Prior direct experience using WellSky (MediLinks) is highly preferred. Demonstrated aptitude to serve as an EHR Superuser is required.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Deep understanding of IRF regulations, including the IRF-PAI process and CMS Section GG scoring guidelines.
• Communication: Exceptional public speaking, instructional design, and interpersonal skills to effectively engage adult learners across multiple disciplines.

Physical Demands

• The physical demands described here represent those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
• Mobility: Regularly required to stand and walk for extended periods while conducting hospital rounds, leading classroom orientation, or facilitating hands-on clinical skills labs on the patient care units.
• Manual Dexterity: Frequent use of hands and fingers to operate computer keyboards, mobile devices, medical equipment, and training simulators.
• Lifting & Moving: Must be able to occasionally lift, pull, push, and/or move up to 30 pounds independently. May be required to assist with patient positioning, transfers, or demonstrations of safe clinical handling techniques during competency training.
• Sensory: Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus for analyzing EHR documentation, reading regulatory guidelines, and assessing clinical competencies.

Work Environment

• The work environment characteristics described here represent those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.
• Setting: This position operates split-time between a professional office environment (classroom, desk work, computer testing labs) and the active clinical floors of an inpatient rehabilitation hospital.
• Exposure: While performing clinical floor assessments, there is potential, predictable exposure to bloodborne pathogens, infectious materials, and chemical cleaning agents. Adherence to standard precautions and standard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is mandatory.
• Pace & Noise: The environment is fast-paced, requiring frequent multitasking and interruptions. Noise levels range from quiet in administrative offices to moderate on the nursing and therapy units.
• Schedule: Generally structured around standard daytime business hours; however, occasional early morning, evening, or weekend hours may be required to adequately train and evaluate nightshift or weekend clinical staff.