Sterile Processing Director Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in nursing from an accredited college or university.
• Master’s degree in nursing, a related field such as healthcare administration, or equivalent; internal candidates matriculated in a master’s degree program may be considered.
• Registered Nurse licensure in Rhode Island or licensure under the Nurse Licensure Compact agreement.
• American Heart Association BLS and ACLS certifications.
• At least 5–7 years of progressively responsible perioperative services experience as an intraoperative RN.
• At least 3 years of experience in a leadership or management role.
• Demonstrated experience managing both OR and Sterile Processing Services departments in a large hospital or healthcare setting, preferably a Level I trauma center.
• Demonstrated ability to apply principles of Highly Reliable Organizations (HRO).
• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams and driving improvements in clinical outcomes, patient flow, and operational efficiency.

Nice To Haves

• Certification in perioperative nursing, such as CNOR.
• Certifications related to surgical services, sterile processing, or trauma care, such as CSPDT, CST, or trauma certifications.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage daily operations of the OR, Endoscopy, and Sterile Processing Services departments, optimizing workflow and using technology and informatics to enhance patient care outcomes.
• Integrate OR and Sterile Processing Services under a unified vision that promotes collaboration, communication, respect, innovative care delivery, and efficient workflows.
• Develop staffing plans, manage recruitment, and align staffing levels with operational and patient-care needs.
• Identify and update staff competencies and ensure staff have the skills needed to meet operational and quality goals.
• Oversee retention strategies, staff engagement, and ongoing professional development.
• Ensure safe, high-quality surgical care for pediatric and adult trauma patients.
• Keep current with perioperative clinical advancements and implement evidence-based strategies, technologies, best practices, metrics, and benchmarks.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to optimize surgical schedules, patient flow, and instrument sterilization processes, using informatics to reduce bottlenecks.
• Use performance data to improve staffing, workflows, and departmental processes.
• Maintain standardized clinical pathways for a safe, efficient intraoperative patient journey.
• Monitor clinical outcomes, identify improvement areas, and implement quality improvement initiatives in conjunction with System Directors.
• Ensure compliance with healthcare regulations and accreditation standards, manage accreditation processes and inspection readiness, and collaborate with the System Director of Nursing.
• Oversee risk mitigation, infection control protocols, and trauma-care standards.
• Work with system leaders to standardize workflows, care delivery, and best practices across hospitals and facilities.
• Promote collaboration and shared learning across departments and facilities, integrating insights from peers into operations.
• Oversee regular managerial audits assessing efficiency, compliance, and clinical outcomes.
• Evaluate departmental performance against KPIs and implement corrective action plans with relevant teams and system leadership.
• Participate in development and monitoring of staffing-related budgets while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
• Identify cost-reduction opportunities while maintaining or improving quality of care.
• Coordinate with revenue integrity finance teams on accurate surgical billing and coding; monitor documentation error work queues and timely charge posting.
• Hold staff accountable for accurate documentation and timely charge submission.
• Monitor departmental financial performance, analyze budget variances, and recommend corrective actions.
• Optimize staffing, equipment, materials, and resource utilization; develop strategies to reduce waste and support cost-effective care.
• Build and maintain relationships with vendors, regulatory bodies, academic institutions, and other external stakeholders.
• Oversee integration and optimization of technology in OR and Sterile Processing Services and ensure staff training on new systems.
• Perform other duties as assigned.