Medical-Surgical/ICU Director

CIBOLA GENERAL HOSPITAL CORPORATION•Grants, NM

About The Position

The Medical-Surgical/ICU Director provides clinical, operational, and administrative leadership for the Medical-Surgical and Intensive Care Unit. The Director is responsible for safe and effective patient care, staffing, employee development, budget oversight, regulatory compliance, quality improvement, and overall departmental performance. The role promotes evidence-based, patient-centered nursing practice and a culture of accountability, collaboration, safety, and continuous improvement, working closely with hospital leadership, physicians, nursing staff, Quality, Infection Prevention, Case Management, Human Resources, and other departments. The Director oversees department operations, staffing and schedules, personnel development, clinical quality and patient safety, ICU clinical standards, discharge planning and readmission prevention, regulatory readiness, financial and resource management, and performance reporting. Accountability includes departmental measures such as staffing and productivity, patient outcomes, readmissions, patient transfers, mortality, average length of stay, patient safety, employee competency, regulatory readiness, and patient experience. The position may require response outside normal business hours based on departmental or patient-care needs.

Requirements

Current, unrestricted Registered Nurse (RN) license in New Mexico or a qualifying multistate license permitting practice in New Mexico.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN).
Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
Current Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) certification appropriate to assigned clinical responsibilities.
Demonstrated acute-care nursing experience.
Demonstrated nursing leadership, supervisory, charge nurse, management, or comparable leadership experience.
Knowledge of inpatient nursing operations, staffing, patient safety, performance improvement, infection prevention, regulatory compliance, and evidence-based nursing practice.
Strong leadership, interpersonal, organizational, analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to perform the essential physical functions associated with an acute-care nursing leadership position, including standing, walking, bending, reaching, assisting with patient-care activities when necessary, and responding rapidly to clinical emergencies.
Ability to work or respond outside normal business hours when departmental or patient-care needs require it.
Must comply with hospital infection-prevention, occupational-health, and safety requirements.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, or a related field.
Three to five years of progressive acute-care nursing experience.
Two or more years of nursing leadership or management experience.
Previous Medical-Surgical and ICU/critical-care nursing experience.
National certification in nursing leadership or critical-care nursing, such as NEA-BC, NE-BC, CCRN, or CEN, as applicable.

Responsibilities

Direct the daily clinical and administrative operations of the Medical-Surgical and ICU departments.
Ensure staffing and nursing assignments reflect patient census, acuity, staff competency, and operational requirements.
Develop and maintain department schedules; monitor overtime, agency utilization, call coverage, and staffing expenses.
Review and approve employee timecards and ensure payroll-related documentation is accurate and timely.
Promote communication and collaboration among nursing staff, physicians, ancillary departments, and hospital leadership.
Maintain departmental equipment, supplies, work orders, and operational resources; provide direct clinical assistance or leadership support when needed.
Recruit, orient, supervise, coach, and evaluate nursing and support personnel; provide ongoing feedback and professional development.
Address employee performance, attendance, conduct, and competency concerns in collaboration with Human Resources.
Ensure required orientation, education, competencies, certifications, and clinical training are completed and documented.
Promote staff engagement, accountability, teamwork, retention, and a positive workplace culture; develop leadership capabilities among charge nurses and other clinical leaders.
Monitor clinical outcomes and departmental quality indicators, including patient safety events, adverse outcomes, near misses, medication events, falls, hospital-acquired conditions, readmissions, mortality, transfers, swing-bed admissions, length of stay, census/utilization, and National Patient Safety Goal compliance.
Analyze trends and develop performance-improvement initiatives; collaborate on corrective and preventive actions, participate in root cause analyses, and present performance data to committees and leadership.
Ensure compliance with medication safety, infection prevention, patient identification, fall prevention, and other patient-safety practices.
Provide leadership for safe care of critically ill and higher-acuity patients; ensure ICU nurses maintain required competencies and appropriate clinical standards for monitoring, emergency response, medications, deterioration, and transfers.
Ensure timely escalation and transfer when a patient's care needs exceed hospital capabilities; collaborate with physicians and supporting clinical disciplines and maintain emergency and rapid-response readiness.
Oversee nursing components of discharge planning and transitions of care; work with providers, Case Management, Social Services, and others to address barriers to safe discharge.
Monitor discharge instructions, patient education, medication reconciliation, and follow-up; support post-discharge processes and initiatives to reduce avoidable readmissions and emergency department visits.
Maintain compliance with federal and state requirements, hospital policies, professional nursing standards, and accreditation requirements; maintain readiness for regulatory surveys.
Review and update departmental policies, procedures, protocols, and standards of care; ensure clinical documentation, competencies, licenses, certifications, and records remain current.
Participate in surveys, audits, investigations, corrective action plans, and performance-improvement activities; educate staff about regulatory changes and requirements.
Develop, manage, and monitor annual operating and capital budgets; monitor labor, overtime, productivity, supplies, equipment, and other expenditures.
Evaluate staffing and resource use relative to census and acuity, identify efficiency opportunities while protecting safety and quality, participate in capital equipment planning, and maintain appropriate supplies and equipment.
Collect, review, analyze, and report operational and clinical data; establish measurable goals aligned with hospital objectives and initiate corrective action when performance falls below expectations.
Participate in Utilization Review, Quality, Patient Safety, and other assigned committees; communicate performance, staffing concerns, quality issues, resource needs, and operational risks to senior leadership.