Job Summary
The Director of the Medical/Surgical Department provides operational leadership and clinical oversight for all activities within the Med/Surg unit. This role ensures high-quality, patient-centered care, compliance with all applicable regulations, and the implementation of departmental goals aligned with the organization's strategic objectives. The Director manages staff performance, budget planning, workflow efficiency, and continuous improvement initiatives to maintain high standards of care.
Essential Functions - Provides strategic, operational, and clinical leadership for assigned Medical/Surgical nursing units, ensuring safe, effective, patient-centered care across all hours of operation.
- Establishes and monitors departmental goals, policies, procedures, and standards consistent with evidence-based acute-care nursing practice and organizational priorities.
- Maintains compliance with applicable laws, regulations, accreditation standards, nursing practice requirements, and hospital policies.
- Monitors clinical quality, patient safety, patient-experience, and operational indicators and leads corrective actions and performance improvement initiatives based on identified trends.
- Optimizes admission, transfer, discharge, interdisciplinary rounding, and care-transition processes to support patient flow, appropriate length of stay, and continuity of care.
- Oversees workforce planning, recruitment, orientation, scheduling, competency validation, performance management, and professional development for assigned staff.
- Develops and manages departmental operating and capital budgets; monitors productivity, staffing, supplies, and resource utilization against approved targets.
- Partners with hospitalists, physicians, case management, pharmacy, therapy, and ancillary departments to coordinate care for medically complex patients.
- Ensures reliable processes for patient assessment, care planning, medication safety, prevention of hospital-acquired conditions, clinical deterioration, and escalation of care.
- Promotes a culture of safety, accountability, staff engagement, service excellence, and continuous learning within assigned units.
- Responds to patient, family, physician, and staff concerns; identifies systemic issues and ensures timely, appropriate follow-up.
- Represents Medical/Surgical Services on hospital committees and contributes to strategic planning, capacity management, and organization-wide initiatives.
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities/Expectations - Advanced knowledge of medical/surgical nursing practice and the care needs of diverse adult acute-care populations.
- Knowledge of nursing practice requirements, accreditation standards, patient safety principles, and methods for preventing hospital-acquired conditions.
- Skill in leading large, multidisciplinary teams and coordinating care across multiple units, disciplines, and transitions.
- Ability to analyze clinical quality, patient flow, length-of-stay, patient-experience, productivity, and utilization data and translate findings into measurable improvement.
- Knowledge of workforce planning, acuity-based staffing, productivity management, budgeting, and resource allocation.
- Skill in change leadership, performance management, coaching, conflict resolution, and staff engagement.
- Effective written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills with staff, physicians, patients, families, and organizational leaders.
- Proficiency with electronic health records, clinical information systems, and standard business and reporting applications.
QualificationsEducation - Postsecondary (Cert/Diploma/Program Grad) from an accredited nursing program (Required) And
- Bachelor's Degree or higher in nursing, healthcare administration or a related field (Preferred)
Licenses/Certifications - RN - Registered Nurse - State Licensure and/or Compact State Licensure in the state of practice Upon Hire (Required)
- BCLS - Basic Life Support from American Heart Association or other approved provider Upon Hire or within facility-specified time frame (Required)
- ACLS - Advanced Cardiac Life Support from American Heart Association or other approved provider Upon Hire or within facility-specified time frame (May be Required-Facility Specific)
Experience - 5+ years progressively responsible nursing experience (Required) And
- 2+ years leadership or management experience in an acute care setting (Required)
