Department OverviewWomen's and Children's Ambulatory Care supports a broad range of outpatient services across OHSU, including the OHSU Center for Women's Health and Doernbecher Children's Hospital ambulatory clinics. The department provides primary, specialty, and subspecialty care across 18 ambulatory clinical sites throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington. Services include women's health, obstetric and gynecologic care, reproductive health, pediatric primary and specialty care, and adolescent care. The team works collaboratively across clinical and administrative leadership to support safe, equitable, evidence-based, patient- and family-centered care while advancing access, patient experience, health equity, and maternal and child health outcomes.
The Nursing Director is a Registered Nurse (RN) accountable for advancing excellence in nursing
care and leadership at the departmental or service line level. The Director provides strategic,
operational, financial, and human resource leadership while ensuring alignment with organizational
priorities and the Professional Practice Model. Through collaboration with interdisciplinary teams,
the Director fosters a care environment that supports safe, high-quality, patient- and family-centered
care, staff engagement, and continuous professional development. The Director drives quality,
safety, and performance improvement, manages resources responsibly, and ensures compliance with
regulatory and accreditation standards
Function/Duties of PositionThis position provides clinical, operational, and nursing leadership for the ambulatory practices of the Women's and Children's (W&C) Service Line, which includes the OHSU Center for Women's Health and the Doernbecher Children's Hospital ambulatory clinics. This nursing leader holds budget accountability for 3 clinical programs across multiple sites and is accountable for the professional practice of nursing and the delivery of safe, equitable, evidence-based, patient- and family-centered care across 18 ambulatory clinical sites in Oregon and SW Washington. This position directly supervises 5 unclassified leaders, with indirect reports exceeding 140 personnel.
The incumbent partners in a dyad/triad model with administrative and faculty leaders to plan and develop clinical programming, assure continuity of care across the perinatal and pediatric outpatient environments, and deliver services that meet patients' and families' needs in a warm, timely, and professional manner. Scope spans ambulatory women's health, including primary and preventive care, general and subspecialty obstetric and gynecologic services, and reproductive health; and pediatric primary, adolescent, and specialty care, including the statewide pediatric specialty outreach program through which Doernbecher clinicians deliver care in communities beyond the Portland metro area.
The incumbent is accountable for day-to-day clinical operations across all assigned programs and for the professional practice of nursing throughout Women's and Children's ambulatory care. This accountability includes optimizing clinical resources and workflows to improve patient access and performance against service line targets, fostering a culture of safety, developing and validating role-specific competencies for clinical staff, and participating in cross-functional working groups so that W&C ambulatory activities comply with all applicable regulatory requirements.
This accountability further includes, but is not limited to, human resource functions of recruitment, onboarding, ongoing development, competency validation, performance management, and clinical compliance for registered nurses and support staff, nurse managers, and the clinical operations supervisor. The incumbent will align nursing best practice across W&C ambulatory care, and in accordance with OHSU Ambulatory Nursing, to advance organizational priorities in patient access, patient experience, health equity, and maternal and child health outcomes.
This position reports to the Sr. Director of Women's and Children's Ambulatory Care, with a dotted-line reporting relationship to the OHSU Ambulatory Care CNO/VP. The incumbent holds oversight of nursing practice decisions affecting the assigned practices, participates in ambulatory nursing leadership forums, works effectively with administrative leaders across OHSU, and maintains matrixed working relationships with the Department Chairs, Vice Chairs, Division Heads, and Medical Directors of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics.
The Nursing Director role is distinguished from Nurse Managers by its expanded scope, scale, and
strategic impact. Directors typically oversee multiple units, programs, or service lines and are
responsible for larger budgets, higher complexity of operations, and broader organizational
integration. While Nurse Managers focus on unit-level leadership and performance, the Nursing
Director establishes long-term vision and strategies, mentors nursing leaders, and influences systemwide priorities. Directors work in partnership with executive nursing and medical leadership,
aligning departmental goals with health system strategies, and represent nursing at senior leadership
and cross-organizational forums.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES1. Strategic & Program Planning - Develops and implements department or service line
strategic plans aligned with organizational and nursing priorities; sets short- and long-term
goals; establishes performance metrics and communicates progress to stakeholders; partners
with executive and physician leadership to execute system-level strategies and initiatives.
2. Operational Leadership - Oversees daily operations and long-term program development
across multiple units or service lines; applies systems thinking to integrate patient care
services across settings; ensures consistent delivery of safe, efficient, high-quality care;
maintains visibility with staff and promotes collaboration, shared governance, and
accountability.
3. Financial Management - Develops, monitors, and manages complex departmental or
service line operating and capital budgets; forecasts and allocates resources; analyzes
productivity, cost, and utilization trends; ensures financial stewardship while supporting
high-quality care delivery; mentors nurse leaders in fiscal responsibility and business
planning.
4. Human Resources & Leadership Development - Provides vision and direction for
recruitment, retention, and workforce planning; develops and mentors nurse managers and
assistant nurse managers, building leadership capacity and succession pipelines; ensures staff
performance management, engagement, and professional development; fosters a culture of
equity, safety, recognition, and continuous learning.
5. Quality, Safety & Performance Improvement - Leads development and execution of
quality and safety plans at the department or service line level; uses data and evidence-based
practices to identify risks and improvement opportunities; oversees regulatory readiness and
accreditation compliance; drives cross-unit or system-level performance improvement
projects that advance outcomes and patient experience.
6. Professional Practice & Organizational Engagement - Advances professional nursing
practice consistent with ANA standards, the Nurse Practice Act, and organizational values;
promotes a culture of ethical, evidence-based, and patient-centered care; represents nursing at
executive, organizational, and system-level committees; partners with medical and
administrative leaders to shape policy, innovation, and strategic priorities.
Required Qualifications- BSN required AND
- Master's degree in nursing or related field required.
- Three or more years of ambulatory care leadership experience, including responsibility for hiring, performance
- Seven (7) years of relevant clinical experience AND
- Five (5) years of progressive nursing management experience, including oversight of
multiple units or complex clinical programs. - Demonstrated ability to lead in a large, matrixed health system.
- Current unencumbered Oregon RN license.
- Professional certification in nursing leadership (e.g., Nurse Executive/Administrator)
required within 3 years of hire
Preferred Qualifications- Doctoral preparation preferred.
Additional DetailsThis position also comes with great benefits! Some highlights include:- Comprehensive health care plans that cover 100% for a full-time employee and 88% for dependents for .75 FTE and higher.
- $50K of term life insurance provided at no cost to the employee
- Two separate above market pension plans to choose from
- Paid time off- 208 hours per year (full-time), prorated for part-time
- Extended illness bank- 64 hours per year, prorated for part-time
- 9 paid holidays per year
- Three weeks of paid parental leave
- Adoption assistance program (up to 5k)
- Substantial Tri-met and C-Tran discounts
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Innovative Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
