• Employment Type: Full Time
• Shift: Days
• Location: Boston, MA

The Clinical Nursing Director assumes accountability and responsibility for translating the philosophy, objectives, policies and procedures of the hospital and nursing service into effective action. Responsibility is centralized within six major areas: leadership, clinical practice, professional development, strategic planning, and management of the environment and resource management.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

The Clinical Nursing Director creates an environment and provides the leadership so that staff can develop and integrate their visions, ideas and passions about nursing practice so that together they can achieve high quality, effective, and efficient patient care.

Leadership:

• Manages systems in order to accomplish patient, unit, and departmental and institutional goals.
• Creates opportunities for multidisciplinary forums in order to solve problems and facilitate planning.
• Initiates and manages change, ensuring appropriate support and resources to staff.
• Seeks opportunities to build working alliances with other professional groups.

Clinical Practice Development:

• Monitors and ensures excellence in the clinical practice of nursing and the delivery of patient care on unit.
• Integrates the nursing service philosophy into all unit practices and programs.
• Keeps current with literature regarding changing practices, interventions and research in patient care and health care delivery.
• Utilizes a performance improvement process to assess the response to care from patients, families and others.
• Develops and monitors systems that promote and support primary nursing practice.
• Consults with patients and families in response to staff nurse requests, direct family requests and/or direct assessment of patient/family responses to hospitalization.
• Interacts with staff nurses for the purpose of assessing the care provided and the nurses capabilities to provide care in changing circumstances.

Professional Development:

• Creates an environment that supports and celebrates the professional growth of the nursing staff.
• Communicates and consistently supports by behavior the philosophy and goals of the unit department and the hospital.
• Seeks out opportunities for forums that will meet the professional and clinical goals of staff and self.
• Seeks guidance for appropriate resources in achieving unit and departmental goals.
• Demonstrates skill to identify and negotiate conflict.
• Participates on and provides leadership to departmental and hospital committee as requested.
• Creates an environment that fosters collaborative relationships.
• Ensures clinical competence of staff.
• Supports the ongoing development of staff through coaching, mentoring and role modeling.
• Promotes staffs participation in unit and hospital committees.
• Creates a unit culture that values and supports ongoing injury and learning.
• Provides timely feedback and evaluation to staff through formal and informal forums.
• Provides appropriate education and opportunities for development of unlicensed personnel.

Strategic Planning:

• Provides leadership in setting the direction of the unit and is responsive to changing internal and external factors.
• Remains knowledgeable about external forces that are influencing health care and patient care management.
• Develops unit goals and plans to respond to external and internal factors that affect the delivery of patient care.
• Utilizes knowledge of patients, personnel and practice to plan initiatives that ensure positive patient outcomes in an effective and efficient manner.
• Collaborates with other disciplines in practice initiatives to improve and maintain quality while managing costs.
• Collaborates with other members of the institution to insure the delivery of service to meets patient care needs.

Management of the Environment:

• Maintains open communication with managers whose departments provide support services to the clinical area in order to insure the appropriate level of service at all times.
• Develops and participates in creating systems that monitor operational activities.
• Consults with members of the Nurse Executive Group and/or other members of Senior Management when unable to resolve environmental issues in a timely manner.
• Follows issues through until resolution occurs.

Resource Management:

• The Clinical Nursing Director is accountable for managing human, fiscal and other resources needed to support clinical nursing practice and positive patient outcomes.
• On an ongoing basis, monitors and critically analyzes resource utilization of the unit.
• Develops budget proposals based on the changing needs of the patient population and clinical programs.
• Collaborates with physicians, hospital administrators, and other relevant groups on methods of delivering care.
• Communicates with nursing staff on opportunities for expectations of cost effective methods of delivering care.
• Provides leadership in developing quality driven and cost effective programs of care.
• Selects unit staff and ensures that all members are competent to fulfill their assigned responsibilities.
• Ensures appropriate staffing plan to accommodate changing needs of the unit.
• Utilizes knowledge of federal, state, hospital, unit and accreditation agencies standards, policies and procedures to direct patient care.

JOB KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• Must have demonstrated clinical competence in nursing practice.
• Demonstrate leadership qualities.
• Ability to work collaboratively with nurses, physicians and administrative colleagues.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Strong commitment to the nursing profession.

AGE SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES:

• Knowledge of growth and development.
• Ability to interpret age specific data and response to care.
• Engaging in age appropriate communication.

EDUCATION:

• Masters Degree Required in Nursing or Health Care related field, i.e., Masters in Business Administration or Health Policy.

EXPERIENCE:

• Managerial or Supervisory experience preferred.

LICENSE:

• Current Commonwealth of Massachusetts Registered Nurse License.
• WORKING CONDITIONS/PHYSICAL DEMANDS
• Prolonged, extensive, or considerable standing/walking.
• Lifts, positions, pushes and/or transfer patients and equipment.
• Considerable reaching, stooping, bending, kneeling, crouching.
• Frequent exposure to hazardous chemicals, sick patients, bodily substances, noise and possible exposure to radiation, lasers, electric shock, etc.
• Regularly exposed to the risk of bloodborne diseases and other transmissible infections.
• Contact with patients under wide variety of circumstances.
• Subject to varying and unpredictable situations.
• Handle emergency and crisis situations.
• Subjected to irregular hours.
• May have contact with hazardous materials.

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES STATEMENT:

Must be able to perform all essential functions of this position with reasonable accommodation if disabled.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed. They are not intended to be construed, as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified. Tufts Medical Center reserves the right to modify position duties at any time, to reflect process improvements and business necessity.

COVID-19 POLICY:

Please note that effective October 1, 2021, as a condition of employment at Tufts Medical Center, all employees and new hires must have received their complete dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, unless they have been granted an exemption.