Director of Nursing

Alright, let's talk about this Director of Nursing role at Houston Methodist Willowbrook in Houston, TX. This isn't a backseat position. You're the one running the show for your assigned units and departments, 24/7. Your focus is the quality of nursing care, but your scope is everything: planning, organizing, leading, and evaluating the entire nursing service for your specialty area.

The Role

You'll provide the leadership to hit strategic and operational goals for the Department of Nursing. That means setting the direction for both nursing and business operations. You're responsible for building the strategic and tactical plans for clinical services, launching new programs, and figuring out where people need to be.

A big part of your job is cultivating an environment where nurses feel empowered to deliver care that's effective, compassionate, efficient, and knowledgeable. You'll work hand in hand with the Medical Staff to make sure we're always meeting regulations and accreditation standards.

In short, you oversee department staff activities. Your goal is quality, productivity, functional excellence, and efficiency to meet our objectives.

What You're Accountable For

• Employee engagement across your teams.
• Making sure staffing levels are right.
• Developing budgets and then sticking to them.
• The tough staffing calls: hiring decisions and employment terminations.
• Coaching and counseling your team on their performance.
• Creating and rolling out policies that ensure a work environment that's both safe and effective.
• Implementing training, monitoring systems, and operational initiatives. This is how we stay compliant with all ethical standards, legal business practices, and every accreditation, regulatory, or government rule out there.

What You Need to Bring

Education & Experience

• A Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree are required; one of those two degrees must be in Nursing.
• If you don't have a Master's yet? That's okay at hire; but you must be enrolled in a degree program when you start. And you have two years from your transfer or hire date to get it done.
• Three years of experience working in a clinical setting is non negotiable. Within that time, two years need to involve direct people management experience.

Licenses & Certifications

• You must have an RN license from Texas (or a compact license). If you're establishing Texas residency with a compact license, you've got 60 days to get your permanent Texas license sorted.
• A Magnet/ANCC Recognized Leadership Certification is also required.

Skills & Abilities

The list here is thorough because the job demands it. You need the skills to do this job safely, which we determine through ongoing assessments.

• Your proficiency in English; speaking, reading, writing; has to be sufficient for activities that impact patient or employee safety.
• The way you interact with others should give them confidence in you and in the organization.
• You can modify your approach to gain acceptance of ideas and accommodate different tasks, situations, and people.
• We need self directed initiative, critical thinking, and effective communication (both oral and written). That's how leadership shows up here.
• The ability to identify issues and opportunities, compare data from different places, draw conclusions, choose an effective course of action, and take steps consistent with the facts and probable consequences.
• A deep knowledge of regulatory and accreditation agency requirements affecting your department; you stay on top of industry changes.