Location: Chicago, Illinois
Business Unit: Rush Medical Center
Hospital: Rush University Medical Center
Department: RUSH Virtual Nursing Care
Work Type: Full Time (Total FTE between 0.9 and 1.0)
Shift: Shift 1
Work Schedule: 8 Hr (8:00:00 AM - 5:00:00 PM)
Rush offers exceptional rewards and benefits learn more at our Rush benefits page (https://www.rush.edu/rush-careers/employee-benefits).
Pay Range: $63.10 - $94.02 per hour
Rush salaries are determined by many factors including, but not limited to, education, job-related experience and skills, as well as internal equity and industry specific market data. The pay range for each role reflects Rush's anticipated wage or salary reasonably expected to be offered for the position. Offers may vary depending on the circumstances of each case.
Summary:
Job Summary
The Director of Virtual Nursing Care is a visionary nursing leader responsible for the strategic design, implementation, and operational oversight of the Rush system's virtual care programs. This includes virtual nursing, virtual observation, and the identification and development of expanded virtual care use cases that address evolving clinical, operational, and workforce challenges. This role will also facilitate the integration of enhanced technologies to streamline care processes.
This role serves as the Rush system nursing leader for virtual care innovation, partnering with nursing leadership, clinical informatics, information technology, interdisciplinary clinical teams, and operational stakeholders to build a sustainable, scalable virtual care infrastructure. The Director will leverage technology and evidence-based practice to enhance patient safety, improve clinical outcomes, enhance patient and clinician experience, optimize nursing workflows, and support workforce resilience.
Other information:
Qualifications
• Registered Nurse licensed in Illinois.
• BSN is required.
• Relevant master's degree e.g., MSN, MHA, or MBA required
• National certification e.g., NEA-BC, NE-BC, RN-BC in a specialty-relevant area required within one year of hire or promotion.
• Minimum 8 years of progressive nursing leadership experience in a hospital or health system setting
• Experience managing cross-functional teams, large-scale change initiatives, and multi-stakeholder projects
• Preferred credentials include an earned Doctorate degree in nursing
Responsibilities:
Job Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Program Development
• Develop and execute the strategic vision and multi-year roadmap for virtual care services and digital enablement across the Rush system, aligning with system goals for quality, equity, safety, patient experience, and financial stewardship.
• Lead the design, launch, and continuous improvement of virtual nursing programs
• Identify, evaluate, and champion expanded virtual care use cases, including but not limited to virtual rounding, tele-triage, remote patient monitoring, virtual specialty consults, virtual mentoring/precepting, and ambulatory virtual nursing models.
• Serve as the internal subject matter expert and thought leader on virtual care innovation, emerging technologies, and industry best practices.
• Oversee the virtual observation program, ensuring evidence-based protocols for patient safety monitoring, fall prevention, behavioral health observation, and elopement risk mitigation.
Operational Management
• Direct day-to-day operations of all virtual care programs, including staffing models, scheduling, workflow design, and performance management.
• Develop and manage the virtual care program budget, including capital and operational expenditures, vendor contracts, capacity management, and ROI analysis.
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and clinical outcome metrics to evaluate program effectiveness utilizing well-established methods for improvement, including but not limited to implementation science, PDSA, DMAIC, etc.; produce regular reports for senior leadership.
• Create and maintain evidence-based policies, procedures, standard work, and clinical protocols governing virtual care delivery and technology enhancement.
• Ensure regulatory compliance across all virtual care operations, including CMS Conditions of Participation, Joint Commission standards, IDPH requirements, and applicable Illinois telehealth regulations.
Innovation & Technology Integration
• Partner with organizational leadership, IT, clinical informatics, and vendor partners to evaluate, select, implement, and optimize virtual care technology platforms (video, AI-enabled clinical decision support, remote monitoring devices, EHR integration).
• Drive the adoption of AI-enhanced tools and predictive analytics within nursing and virtual care workflows to support early intervention, clinical documentation, and proactive patient care.
• Lead pilot programs and proof-of-concept initiatives for emerging technology and virtual care applications; develop business cases and scalability plans for successful pilots.
• Stay current on healthcare technology trends, attending industry educational offerings, and engaging with peer networks to bring forward-thinking solutions to the organization.
Collaboration & Workforce Development
• Collaborate with CNOs, nursing leaders, educators, bedside nurses, and interdisciplinary teams to integrate virtual care into existing care delivery models and unit-level workflows.
• Establishes and governs system-wide standards for virtual nursing care models and technology integration, ensuring a balance between system consistency and local customization.
• Support the recruitment, onboarding, development, and retention of a high-performing virtual care team, fostering a culture of accountability, continuous learning, and professional growth.
• Partner with the Professional Nursing Practice (PNP) team to design and deliver training and competency programs for virtual care staff, bedside nursing teams, and interdisciplinary partners on virtual care workflows and technology.
• Serve as a change management leader, building organizational buy-in and clinician engagement for virtual care adoption across departments and service lines.
• Champion virtual care as a strategy for workforce resilience, including career pathway development for nurses transitioning to virtual roles and support for nurse retention and well-being.
Quality, Patient Safety & Outcomes
• Ensure all virtual care programs uphold the highest standards of patient safety, clinical quality, and patient-centered care.
• Lead quality improvement initiatives within virtual care, utilizing Lean, Six Sigma, or other performance improvement methodologies.
• Analyze clinical outcomes data and use findings to drive evidence-based program enhancements, adjusting program characteristics to uphold high reliability principles, quality, and safety.
• Maintain readiness for regulatory surveys and accreditation activities related to virtual care services.
