Job Description

Union: Non-union
Number of vacancies: 1
New or Replacement Position: New
Site: Toronto General Hospital/Toronto Western Hospital
Department: Sprott Department of Surgery
Reports to: Director, Transformation & Quality
Salary Range: $40.49 - $60.73 per hour
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Status: Temporary Full-Time
Closing Date: August 13, 2026

Position Summary

Together, the Sprott Surgery Program and the Department of Anesthesia & Pain Management make up the largest comprehensive surgical program in Canada across 13 divisions. With a vision of being "World Leaders in Surgery," Sprott Surgery is committed to improving quality, safety, patient experience, and outcomes across the full surgical journey.

As Sprott Surgery advances its commitment to delivering a seamless, patient-centred surgical experience, there is a significant opportunity to enhance how surgical education is designed, delivered, and maintained across the patient journey. With planned digital advancements, including the UHN website redevelopment and enhanced patient-facing tools aligned with Epic, this role will help establish a standardized, accessible, and sustainable approach to surgical patient education.

Reporting to the Lead of Transformation, the Patient Education Specialist will lead the foundational planning work required to support a centralized Surgical Patient Education Hub. The role will conduct a Sprott-wide current state assessment, complete a gap analysis, engage key stakeholders, and develop a future-state model and implementation roadmap aligned with UHN's patient education and health literacy standards, digital strategy, and the UHN Surgery Strategic Action Plan priority of reimagining the surgical care experience.

Duties

The Patient Education Specialist will lead the planning and design work for a centralized approach to surgical patient education through the following accountabilities:

• Conduct a comprehensive Sprott-wide inventory of existing surgical patient education materials, resources, delivery channels, platforms & workflows
• Assess current state practices to identify variation, duplication, gaps, accessibility considerations, and opportunities for standardization across surgical divisions
• Identify gaps across the patient journey (pre-operative, peri-operative, post-operative) - and identify preferred means of patient education (i.e., utilization of After Visit Summaries, care companion, and teach back)
• Engage clinical teams, patients and/or patient partners, operational leaders, communications, digital, and patient education stakeholders to inform future-state design requirements
• Apply best practices related to health literacy, accessibility, equity, inclusive language, plain language communication, patient engagement, and adult learning principles
• Develop a future-state model for a centralized Surgical Patient Education Hub aligned with UHN patient education & literacy standards, and UHN Digital and website strategy
• Prepare concise reports, presentations, and recommendations for leadership and associated committees / stakeholders to support decision-making and readiness for implementation
• Produce an implementation roadmap, including governance, content standards, and sustainability plan

Qualifications

Qualifications

• Completion of a Bachelor's Degree in Health Sciences, Health Promotion, Education, Communications, Healthcare Administration, QI, or related field
• Master's degree in related discipline preferred
• Minimum 3-5 years of related experience in healthcare, preferably in patient education, QI, project management, clinical transformation, digital health, or healthcare communications
• Experience conducting current state assessments, gap analyses, process reviews, evaluations, or implementation planning in a healthcare environment
• Knowledge of health literacy and adult learning principles
• Experience engaging and facilitating input from diverse stakeholders, including clinical teams, patients, operational leaders, and communications/digital partners
• Experience working with patient education materials, digital content, content management processes, or patient-facing health applications is an asset
• Knowledge of Epic patient-facing tools, After Visit Summary workflows, or related digital health functionality is an asset
• Strong organizational, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills, with ability to translate complex information into clear recommendations
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines, and work effectively in a complex, fast-paced healthcare environment
• A demonstrated commitment to achieving results through collaboration, in keeping with the vision, mission, and values of the organization

Additional Information

• Competitive offer packages
• Government organization and a member of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP https://hoopp.com/)
• Close access to Transit and UHN shuttle service
• A flexible work environment
• Opportunities for development and promotions within a large organization
• Additional perks (multiple corporate discounts including: travel, restaurants, parking, phone plans, auto insurance discounts, on-site gyms, etc.)

Current UHN employees must have successfully completed their probationary period, have a good employee record along with satisfactory attendance in accordance with UHN's attendance management program, to be eligible for consideration.

All applications must be submitted before the posting close date.

UHN uses email to communicate with selected candidates. Please ensure you check your email regularly. At University Health Network (UHN), artificial intelligence technologies may be used to assist in the screening, assessment, and selection of candidates for this position.