The Director of Nursing is responsible for the overall strategic planning for all clinical programs to ensure implementation of the mission, philosophy, patient care standards, and nursing informatics to support quality nursing practice. This leader is accountable for the budget planning and resources to enhance the quality of patient care, personnel and resource management, and in collaboration with senior nursing leadership, the annual goals, objectives, and fiscal targets.
Patient Experience
1. Leads nursing practice using the tenets of the Professional Practice Model of Relationship Centered Care and the Care Delivery Model of Modified Primary Nursing for the promotion of the patient experience.
2. Demonstrates proficiency in all aspects of Purposeful Hourly Rounding (PHR) and role models expected behaviors.
3. Ensures the integration of PHR into clinical activities to enhance Relationship Centered Care.
4. Confirms that staff members round hourly on all patients by review of rounding validation data and observation of unit rounding.
5. Validates Associate Director/Clinical Nurse Manager competency in PHR and provides consistent meaningful feedback with more focused feedback as needed.
6. Synthesizes quantitative and qualitative feedback regarding the patient experience and staff engagement to Associate Directors, Clinical Nurse Managers, staff and the Interdisciplinary Patient Care Team that leads to the development and implementation of an action plan.
7. Follows up on all patient concerns in a timely manner, provides service recovery as needed and escalates patient concerns as appropriate.
8. Demonstrates caring, respect, compassion, empathy and active listening through dialogue, body language and actions.
Quality and Safety
1. Designs, supports and leads a safe, therapeutic and efficient patient-centered care environment for professional practice.
2. Identifies and investigates issues or variances in practice/operations by participating in the RCA process and develops and implements corrective action plans.
3. Fosters a fair and open culture that encourages error and near-miss occurrence reporting.
4. Leads interdisciplinary quality improvement teams using the principles of high reliability.
5. Communicates with staff and leadership about unit progress, changes, and compliance with quality and safety metrics.
6. Responds to escalations of potential safety hazards or gaps from best practice by correcting concerns following institutional chain of command protocol.
7. Monitors institutional information technology infrastructure and corrects gaps in clinical nurse documentation.
8. Leads staff participation in quality and safety initiatives and mandated compliance measures.
9. Demonstrates accountability for all unit quality and safety practices and compliance, and ensures maintenance of mandatory staff competency evaluations.
10. Reviews unit progress, changes and compliance with quality and safety metrics with Associate Directors, Clinical Nurse Managers and Assistant Nurse Managers.
11. Coaches/mentors Associate Directors and Clinical Nurse Managers in the escalation of potential safety hazards and validation of compliance with hospital and departmental ensure and procedures and regulatory agency standards.
12. Fosters a professional practice environment through facilitation of collegial interdisciplinary relationships, peer review, nursing research, innovation and joint practice arrangement through affiliating universities.
Operations and Administration
1. Supports the implementation of the mission, vision, goals and objectives of the department, throughout the clinical service and individual patient care units.
2. Provides administrative oversight to a service line, department or group of units to ensure that all activity (staffing, support services, inter disciplinary collaboration, resources and financial viability) supports the goals of the organization.
3. Works collaboratively with Associate Director/ Clinical Nurse Manager/Assistant Nurse Manager, physician dyads and all members of the healthcare team to develop a cohesive unit leadership group.
4. Maintains service line compliance with all regulatory agency mandates, including the regulations of NYS DOH and The Joint Commission.
5. Oversees Associate Directors/Clinical Nurse Managers/Assistant Nurse Managers to ensure 24 hour patient care delivery, throughput, staffing and processes to insure efficient and effective operations.
6. Oversees the development and implementation of several unit or service line budgets, including capital equipment allocation, budget variances, management of OT and vacancies according to MSHS financial goals.
7. Oversees control of positions and the recruitment and retention of qualified staff.
8. Maintains patient/employee confidentiality in the management of information.
9. Monitors availability and maintenance of nursing equipment and supplies.
10. Evaluates Associate Director/Clinical Nurse Manager and Assistant Nurse Manager performance. Mentors, coaches, counsels and disciplines staff as needed.
11. Conducts leadership staff meetings with Associate Directors to ensure communication about progress, changes and compliance with all hospital ensure and procedures and regulatory agency standards.
12. Encourages, recognizes and rewards manager and staff participation in quality and safety initiatives, compliance and successes.
13. Facilitates organizational change initiatives by using effective strategies.
14. Leads a shared decision making model by establishing a structure of shared governance, just culture and staff engagement in practice councils, departmental meetings and initiatives.
15. Interprets and implements collective bargaining agreements affecting staff while enforcing compliance of union contracts.
16. Serves as chairperson/member in hospital wide committees to represent nursing.
17. Serves in the position of Administrator on Call (AOC) as assigned.
Professional Development
1. Evaluates and directs the environment of care to support clinical colleagues, patients and their families and members of the health care team.
2. Advances clinical competence in nursing practice and leadership to progress from competent to expert.
3. Develops and leads an environment that cultivates a professional image of nursing to colleagues, communication standards include styles and methods that demonstrate caring, respect, empathy and trust.
4. Recommends and supports standards that ensure that ethical principles are incorporated into decision making for patient and family in collaboration with the clinical nursing staff and the health care team.
5. Encourages and facilitates a spirit of scholarship, inquiry, life-long learning and innovation for self and others.
6. Oversees and supports staff in shared decision making through facilitating specialty practice councils, and as a chairperson/ member of nursing department committees, and unit initiatives.
7. Acquires and disseminates knowledge and skills relative to the role, patient population, clinical specialty and global or local health community needs
8. Serves as a professional role model and preceptor for new leadership, staff and students.
9. Establishes and implements a system that supports best practice patient care decisions, safe and efficient patient throughput and access to resources for the unit/clinical service area.
10. Incorporates the values of research and evidenced based practice and its application to the environment of care.
11. Contributes to the profession of nursing through leadership and participation in professional organizations.
Education Requirements
Bachelor of Science with a major in nursing and Master's degree in nursing or health-related specialty required; doctorate preferred.
Experience Requirements
Minimum of 7+ years of progressive leadership experience in nursing, with at least 5 years in critical care.
Licensing and Certification Requirements (if applicable)
Licensed as a registered nurse, Issuing Agency: Department of Health/Office of Professions in the state of New York.
Basic Life Support (BLS) Issuing Agency: AHA
Professional Board Certification in leadership and/or clinical specialty strongly preferred.
Non-Bargaining Unit, 700 - Nursing Operations Management - MSH, Mount Sinai Hospital