Position Description: Associate Vice President, Perioperative Services
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

The Opportunity

This is a unique opportunity for a seasoned director of surgical services to significantly broaden and advance his/her career in a newly created position at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, the Associate Vice President, Perioperative Services. 

This position will report directly to the newly appointed Vice President and Chief of Surgery at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Henri R. Ford, M.D  It reflects the commitment of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles to continue to be recognized as having one of the top pediatric hospital surgical programs in the U.S. and the world.

Under the direction of Dr. Ford and utilizing the new organizational structure, the Perioperative Services Program will expand significantly over the next several years.  New and innovative procedures and treatments will be performed.  Ongoing collaboration with the Saban Research Institute to enhance pediatric health care will be expanded.  The development of off-site surgical centers and other innovations will be considered.  The perioperative service-line is expected to make significant financial contributions to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles in the future, while increasing its national and world-wide reputation as a center of excellence in clinical care of very sick children.

The Associate Vice President, Perioperative Services will be an active participant in an organization that strives for excellence and is deeply rooted in teamwork and mutual support. The commitment of the management team to the mission of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, which is to promote excellence in health care, education and research, is outstanding.. To complement the clinical management team an individual must be able to blend his/her individual success into that of the entire team and to share in the commitment and collective success of taking care of very sick children.

This is an exciting and challenging opportunity for someone to significantly increase and expand his/her skill-set and experiences.  The role of the Associate Vice President, Perioperative Services is planned to grow in scope and responsibility.  This individual will partner with Dr. Ford in achieving the goals of the Perioperative Services Program at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles by:

• maximizing OR throughput and efficiencies to realize increased surgical volume and revenue
• Introducing  standardization and cost savings initiatives to assure cost effectiveness
• expanding staff education to assure staff competency in conjunction with the Chief Nursing Officer
• developing a  business plan to demonstrate the value of surgicenters
• developing ongoing patient safety plan for perioperative service

The Hospital and Research Institute

Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has treated the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. The hospital treats more than 55,000 patients a year in its Emergency Department.  It admits more than 11,750 children a year to the hospital, and nearly 50 percent of those admissions are children under four years of age.  There are more than 282,000 visits a year to its 29 outpatient clinics and laboratories and more than 10,500 visits at community sites through its Division of Adolescent Medicine.  CHLA is able to offer the optimum in multidisciplinary care with 33 pediatric subspecialties and dozens of special services for children and families.

Training programs at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles include 250 medical students, 80 full-time residents and 65 fellows, who collectively reflect the diversity of the patient population and the city of Los Angeles.  CHLA has been affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California for more than 70 years.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is the only hospital in the Greater Los Angeles area affiliated with the Children’s Miracle Network, an international non-profit organization dedicated to helping children by raising funds and awareness for pediatric hospitals throughout North America.

The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, affiliated with the highly prestigious Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, is the fastest growing, largest and most productive pediatric research center in the western United States.  The base of knowledge at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is widely considered to be among the best in pediatric medicine, as it is one of the few freestanding research centers in the nation to combine scientific laboratory inquiry with patient clinical care dedicated exclusively to children.

Position Description

The Associate Vice President, Perioperative Services will report to the Vice President and Chief of Surgery of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles/Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.  He/she will report to the Vice President for Patient Care Services/Chief Nursing Officer for issues related to professional development and competency of the perioperative nursing staff.

There are currently 15 operating rooms and 22 PACU bed spaces, the projected number for cases in 2005 is approximately 14K.  There are 150-FTE’s that comprise the perioperative departments, 90-FTE’s in the OR and 60-FTE’s in PACU and Surgery Admitting.  The projected gross revenue for the next fiscal year is approximately $100 MM, with an expense budget of $20 MM.

Reporting to the Associate Vice President, Perioperative Services are five managers: two Operations Managers for the OR, an Education Manager and a Manager for the PACU and a manager for Surgery Admitting.

The successful candidate will plan, organize, direct, evaluate and improve technical and clinical operations with the Perioperative Departments.  The incumbent will develop and communicate strategic and operational plans and policies consistent with the hospital’s mission, vision and values.  He/she will be responsible for upholding the standards of nursing practice and implementing cost effective programs to ensure that the highest level of safety and quality patient care is being delivered. 

Personal Characteristics

The Associate Vice President of Perioperative Services needs to possess the patience, self-confidence and communication skills necessary to work with the clinical and administrative staff and the Physicians.

First and foremost this individual needs to be a team player, a superb communicator, and have the style of a diplomat; i.e., be able to work in harmony with other operational entities and to negotiate agreements so that each party benefits. It is imperative that he/she be skilled in bringing together the staff in a spirit of harmony and with a single-minded purpose.

The successful candidate will have a proven record of accomplishment of strong leadership skills to ensure that the improvement process within the department continues, that priorities are established, and the goals are met.  The candidate must be a hands-on leader who can develop a strategic vision for the department and has the expertise to develop values and goals for a diverse group of constituents. 

This individual needs to be a person who possesses a strong work ethic, rejects setbacks, and values accomplishments highly.  An action-oriented personality that deals with specifics within a broad conceptual framework will be most effective in this position.  He/she will have an appropriate sense of urgency to be able to react to situations quickly and decisively.

Experience Required

The incumbent will possess previous proven experience and expertise in a line management position.  Master’s degree in nursing, health care administration or a related field is required. The successful candidate must possess a current California Registered Nurse license.  He or she must be able to understand written and verbal communication in English, and possess a thorough knowledge of preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative care, in addition to sterile processing and materials management.

Compensation

The compensation plan is based on a competitive base salary commensurate with the experience and the demonstrated accomplishments of the successful candidate.  It will reflect the opportunity at the hospital. The hospital has an excellent employee benefits package consisting of medical coverage, a dental plan and life insurance.  This position is eligible for the Executive Benefit Plan. 

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has entered into an agreement with the Holden Williams Team of Keller Williams Coastal Properties, along with its world-class partners Citibank, Citigroup, Lawyers Title, Allstate Funding and United Van Lines, to provide a comprehensive program to address housing needs, as well as address real estate and lending concerns for employees of the hospital.

Bio – Henri R. Ford, M.D

Henri R. Ford, M.D., is Vice President and Chief of Surgery at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

Dr. Ford had been professor and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery and Surgeon-In-Chief at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine prior to beginning his new assignment at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles on Jan. 17, 2005.

An attending surgeon at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and a member of the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine since 1993, Dr. Ford was co-director of the Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Magee-Women’s Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh.  He has directed both the Benedum Trauma Program and Pediatric Surgical Research at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Division of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he held the Benjamin R. Fisher Chair in Pediatric Surgery.

He was a member of the board of directors (2003-05) of University of Pittsburgh Physicians (UPP), created in January 1999 to include practices representing 17 departments of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and which now includes more than 1,200 doctors and health care providers. He also is a member of the board of trustees (2002-present) of the Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation.

Dr. Ford has demonstrated “…truly exceptional leadership…” in pediatric surgery and has conducted the definitive studies on pediatric trauma in the United States and his investigative studies have generated new insights into the pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis, the most common and the most lethal disorder affecting the gastrointestinal tract of newborn infants.

Dr. Ford has been active on local and national professional and scientific committees:

• Association for Academic Surgery, including service as secretary (1999-2001); president-elect (2001-02); and president (2002-03).  He is a member of the AAS/SUS relations committee (2002-present).
• Society for Black Academic Surgeons, including service on the program committee 2000-02) and secretary (2002-present).
• Surgical Infection Society, including service on the education and fellowship committee (1998-01); and councilor (2001-04).
• American College of Surgeons, Southwestern Pennsylvania Chapter, including service on the program committee (1998-01; chair, 2000-01) and as council chair (2001-04; president-elect 2003-present).
• Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, including service on the bylaws committee (2000-present) and the publications committee (2004-present).
• American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (2004-present).

He also has been active as a member of the research committee (1999-present) of the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, as a member of the Pennsylvania Committee on Trauma (1998-present) of the American College of Surgeons and as a member of the medical research program scientific advisory committee (1997-present) of The Pittsburgh Foundation.

Dr. Ford has been an oral board examiner for the pediatric certifying examination for the American Board of Surgery since 1999.

His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Benjamin R. Fisher Endowment, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, the National Trauma Registry for Children and the American College of Surgeons. He also has received industry support for his research from Ethicon, Inc., Medinox Corporation and the H.J. Heinz Co.

He is the author of more than 285 publications, book chapters, invited manuscripts, abstracts and presentations.

Dr. Ford is a member of the editorial board of numerous professional publications, including Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (2001-04), Surgery (2001-04), the Journal of Surgical Research (2001-2005), the Annals of Medical Sciences (2000-present) and Surgical Infections (1998-present).

He has been an ad hoc reviewer for numerous other professional publications, including Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2002-present), the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (2002-present), the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology (2002-present), Cancer Detection and Prevention (2001-present), the Journal of the American Medical Association (2001-present), Gastroenterology (2000-present), the American Journal of Physiology: Gastrointestinal & Liver Physiology (2000-present), the Journal of Trauma (2000-present), the Journal of Immunology (2000-present), Shock (2000-present), the Journal of Surgical Research (2000-present), the Journal of Surgical Research (2000-present), Digestive Diseases (1999-present), the Journal of Pediatric Surgery (1997-present) and the Archives of Surgery (1996-present).

Dr. Ford is a fellow of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Surgeons.

He is a member of numerous professional and scientific societies, including the Surgical Biology Club, the American Surgical Association, the American Physiological Society, the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons, the American Trauma Society, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American Pediatric Surgical Association, the Society of University Surgeons, the Shock Society, the Surgical Infection Society, the Society of Black Academic Surgeons and the Association for Academic Surgery.

Dr. Ford received a bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs, cum laude, from Princeton University in 1980.  He received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1984.

Dr. Ford served an internship (1984-85) and residency (1985-87; 1989-91) in general surgery at New York Hospital Cornell Medical College. He completed a research fellowship in immunology (1987-89) in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Ford completed a clinical fellowship (1991-93) in pediatric surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. 

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