Assistant Chief Nursing Officer (ACNO)

Larkin Community Hospital•Hialeah, FL

9h•Onsite

About The Position

Larkin Community Hospital – Palm Springs Campus is seeking an experienced and highly motivated nursing leader to serve as the Assistant Chief Nursing Officer (ACNO). The Assistant Chief Nursing Officer works in partnership with the Chief Nursing Officer to provide leadership, direction, coordination, and administrative oversight of nursing services throughout the hospital. The ACNO supports the development and implementation of nursing strategies, clinical standards, staffing initiatives, quality improvement programs, regulatory compliance, employee development, and operational goals designed to promote safe, efficient, and high-quality patient care. This position serves as a key member of the Nursing Administration leadership team and provides direct support and guidance to Nursing Directors, Managers, Supervisors, Charge Nurses, and frontline nursing personnel. The ACNO acts on behalf of the Chief Nursing Officer when delegated and assists in maintaining effective nursing operations across all assigned clinical areas. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong clinical knowledge, executive-level leadership skills, regulatory awareness, sound judgment, and the ability to effectively lead nursing teams within a fast-paced acute-care hospital environment.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited nursing program required.
Current, active, and unrestricted Registered Nurse (RN) license in the State of Florida required.
Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification required.
Minimum of five (5) years of progressive acute-care nursing experience required.
Minimum of three (3) years of progressive nursing leadership or management experience required.
Demonstrated experience with nursing operations, staffing, employee management, quality improvement, patient safety, and regulatory compliance required.
Experience within an acute-care hospital environment required.
Comprehensive knowledge of professional nursing practice and acute-care hospital operations.
Strong understanding of nursing administration and healthcare leadership principles.
Knowledge of applicable federal, state, regulatory, and accreditation requirements governing hospital nursing services.
Knowledge of CMS, AHCA, Joint Commission, OSHA, infection prevention, patient safety, and quality requirements.
Strong knowledge of nursing staffing, scheduling, productivity, and workforce-management principles.
Understanding of clinical quality measures, nursing-sensitive indicators, performance improvement, and patient-safety practices.
Ability to analyze clinical, staffing, operational, and performance data and develop appropriate action plans.
Strong leadership, coaching, mentoring, and employee-development skills.
Ability to effectively supervise and provide direction to Nursing Directors, Managers, Supervisors, and frontline nursing personnel.
Ability to oversee multiple clinical departments and priorities simultaneously.
Strong critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Ability to make sound decisions in complex, urgent, or high-pressure situations.
Strong conflict-resolution and employee-relations skills.
Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.
Ability to communicate professionally with physicians, executives, employees, patients, families, regulatory representatives, and external stakeholders.
Strong organizational and time-management skills.
Ability to lead change and support implementation of new clinical and organizational initiatives.
Strong attention to detail and commitment to regulatory compliance and patient safety.
Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise appropriate discretion when handling sensitive patient, employee, and organizational information.
Proficiency with electronic medical records, hospital information systems, Microsoft Office, and other applicable healthcare technology.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Health Services Administration, Business Administration, or a related healthcare field strongly preferred.
Master's degree may be required based on organizational leadership requirements.
Current Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) certification preferred.
National certification in Nursing Administration, Nursing Leadership, Healthcare Management, or a related specialty preferred.
Seven (7) or more years of progressive acute-care nursing experience preferred.
Previous experience as a Nursing Director, Assistant Director of Nursing, ACNO, Director of Nursing, or comparable hospital nursing leadership position strongly preferred.
Previous experience overseeing multiple hospital nursing departments or service lines strongly preferred.
Previous experience with Joint Commission, AHCA, CMS, or other hospital regulatory surveys strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Promotes the delivery of safe, effective, evidence-based, and patient-centered nursing care throughout the organization.
Works with nursing leadership to monitor clinical practices and ensure compliance with established standards of nursing care.
Monitors patient-care quality indicators, patient outcomes, safety events, clinical trends, and departmental performance metrics.
Collaborates with Quality, Risk Management, Infection Prevention, Nursing Leadership, and other departments to identify opportunities for improvement.
Participates in the development, implementation, and monitoring of Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) initiatives.
Assists with the investigation and review of patient-safety events, adverse outcomes, medication events, falls, hospital-acquired conditions, patient complaints, and other clinical concerns as appropriate.
Ensures corrective action plans are developed, implemented, and monitored when opportunities for improvement are identified.
Promotes a culture of safety that encourages employees to identify, report, and appropriately escalate patient-care concerns.
Supports initiatives aimed at improving patient satisfaction, nursing quality indicators, clinical outcomes, and the overall patient experience.
Collaborates with clinical leadership to identify trends and develop evidence-based strategies to improve nursing practice.
Assists the Chief Nursing Officer in maintaining Nursing Services in accordance with applicable federal, state, accreditation, and regulatory requirements.
Promotes compliance with standards established by applicable regulatory and accrediting organizations, including CMS, AHCA, The Joint Commission, OSHA, and other agencies as applicable.
Maintains continuous readiness for regulatory surveys, accreditation visits, audits, inspections, and other external reviews.
Participates in hospital survey preparation and assists nursing departments in organizing required documentation, employee files, competencies, policies, and other supporting materials.
Conducts or participates in nursing rounds, tracers, audits, chart reviews, and other monitoring activities to identify potential compliance concerns.
Assists Nursing Directors and Managers with the development and implementation of corrective action plans related to regulatory findings.
Ensures that nursing policies, procedures, standards of care, and clinical protocols are reviewed and updated as necessary.
Promotes adherence to infection prevention standards, patient-safety requirements, medication-management practices, documentation standards, and other applicable regulatory expectations.
Collaborates with the Education Department and nursing leadership to identify educational needs and develop appropriate training initiatives.
Supports the development, implementation, and evaluation of nursing orientation, annual education, competency validation, and continuing education programs.
Ensures nursing employees maintain required licenses, certifications, competencies, and mandatory education applicable to their assigned positions.
Promotes evidence-based nursing practice, professional development, continuing education, and advancement of nursing knowledge.
Assists in developing leadership education and training for Nursing Directors, Managers, Supervisors, and Charge Nurses.
Supports the orientation and development of newly appointed nursing leaders.
Participates in hospital-wide operational planning and assists Nursing Administration in ensuring nursing services effectively support organizational needs.
Collaborates with Emergency Services, Medical-Surgical/Telemetry, Critical Care, Surgical Services, Behavioral Health, Education, Case Management, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Respiratory Therapy, and other departments to promote coordinated patient care.
Participates in patient-flow initiatives designed to improve admission, transfer, discharge, throughput, and utilization of available hospital resources.
Assists with resolving complex operational and clinical issues involving multiple departments.
Provides administrative support during staffing emergencies, high census periods, emergency events, and other circumstances requiring nursing leadership intervention.
Participates in emergency preparedness activities, drills, disaster response, and hospital incident-command activities as assigned.
Ensures nursing departments maintain appropriate equipment, supplies, and resources necessary to provide safe patient care.
Collaborates with department leadership to identify equipment and capital needs and assists with prioritizing requests based on clinical and organizational needs.
Assists the Chief Nursing Officer and Nursing Directors with monitoring departmental budgets, staffing costs, overtime, productivity, resource utilization, and other operational indicators.
Promotes responsible utilization of nursing resources while maintaining appropriate standards of patient care and safety.
Identifies opportunities to improve operational efficiency and reduce unnecessary expenditures without negatively affecting patient care.
Assists nursing leaders in evaluating staffing models and productivity against patient census and acuity.
Participates in planning related to nursing equipment, staffing resources, capital purchases, and departmental needs.
Serves as a professional role model and consistently demonstrates integrity, accountability, professionalism, and ethical leadership.
Establishes and maintains effective relationships with physicians, hospital executives, department leaders, nursing personnel, employees, patients, and families.
Facilitates communication between Nursing Administration and nursing departments regarding organizational initiatives, policy changes, operational expectations, and patient-care priorities.
Conducts and participates in Nursing Leadership meetings, department meetings, hospital committees, performance-improvement meetings, and other organizational initiatives.
Communicates significant clinical, staffing, regulatory, or operational concerns to the Chief Nursing Officer and Administration in a timely manner.
Addresses concerns professionally and works collaboratively with appropriate stakeholders to resolve issues.
Promotes a positive workplace culture that supports collaboration, respect, accountability, employee engagement, and retention.
Maintains confidentiality of patient, employee, organizational, and administrative information.
Performs additional duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Chief Nursing Officer or hospital Administration.