Nurse Manager Jobs

The Nurse Manager assumes accountability and responsibility for translating the philosophy, objectives, policies and procedures of the Tufts Medical Center and nursing/patient care services 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. The Nurse Manager provides an environment, which supports and fosters the patient and family centered model of care.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

The Nurse Manager provides the leadership and the environment in which staff can develop and integrate their visions, ideas and passions about the practice of nursing. Together they will achieve high quality, effective, and efficient patient care.

Leadership:

• Seeks opportunities to build working alliances with other professional groups
• Facilitates and promotes achievement of unit based/practice area goals in line with the medical center mission
• Serves as a high visibility leader, role model and professional mentor; represents a positive image of the unit/practice area to the organization
• Manages systems in order to accomplish patient, unit, departmental and institutional goals
• Effectively defines and communicates a vision of excellence for the unit/practice area
• Ensures excellence in quality, safety and regulatory requirements
• Ensures patient care delivery is safe, of high quality and is cost effective
• Embraces the concept of change and leads staff through the change process
• Responsible for patient and family satisfaction
• Creates opportunities for multidisciplinary forums in order to solve problems and facilitate planning

Clinical Practice Development:

• Develops and monitors systems that promote and support nursing practice
• Keeps current with literature regarding changing practices, interventions and research in patient care and health care delivery
• Monitors and ensures excellence in the clinical practice of nursing and the delivery of patient care on unit/practice area
• Consults with patients and families in response to staff nurse requests, direct family requests and/or direct assessment of patient/family responses to hospitalization
• Utilizes a performance improvement process to assess the response to care from patients, families and others
• Integrates the nursing service philosophy into all unit practices and programs
• Assures standards of care are consistently achieved on the unit/practice area
• 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
• Promotes staff’s participation in unit and hospital committees.
• Communicates and consistently supports, by behavior, the philosophy and goals of the unit department and the hospital
• Provides appropriate education and opportunities for development of unlicensed personnel.
• Demonstrates skill to identify and negotiate conflict.
• 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.
• Supports the ongoing development of staff through coaching, mentoring and role modeling.
• Creates a unit culture that values and supports ongoing inquiry and learning.
• Ensures clinical competence of staff.
• Provides timely feedback and evaluation to staff through formal and informal forums.
• Creates an environment that fosters collaborative relationships.
• Participates on and provides leadership to departmental and hospital committee as requested.

Strategic Planning:

• Utilizes knowledge of patients, personnel and practice to plan initiatives that ensure positive patient outcomes in an effective and efficient manner
• Utilizes relevant data and outcome measures in analysis and planning
• Ensures all unit/practice area staff are trained and achieve medical center services standards
• Remains knowledgeable about external forces that are influencing health care and patient care management
• Collaborates with other colleagues within the institution to insure the delivery of service to meets patient care needs
• Collaborates with other disciplines in practice initiatives to improve and maintain quality while managing costs
• Develops unit goals and plans to respond to external and internal factors that affect the delivery of patient care
• Provides leadership in setting the direction of the unit and is responsive to changing internal and external factors

Management of the Environment:

• ]Develops and participates in creating systems that monitor operational activities.
• Establishes and maintains relationships and open communication with departments which provide support services to the clinical area in order to insure the appropriate level of service at all times
• [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:

• Provides leadership in developing quality driven and cost effective programs of care
• Ensures operational needs of the unit/practice area are met
• Communicates with nursing staff on opportunities for expectations of cost effective methods of delivering care
• Develops budget proposals based on the changing needs of the patient population and clinical programs
• Utilizes knowledge of federal, state, hospital, unit and accreditation agencies standards, policies and procedures to direct patient care
• On an ongoing basis, monitors and critically analyzes resource utilization of the unit
• The Nurse Manager is accountable for managing human, fiscal and other resources needed to support clinical nursing practice and positive patient outcomes
• Promotes responsible, creative and efficient use of resources; adheres to budget
• Collaborates with physicians, hospital administrators, and other relevant groups on methods of delivering care
• Adheres to appropriate staffing plan, accommodates to changing needs of the unit
• Selects unit staff and ensures that all members are competent to fulfill their assigned responsibilities. Overall responsibility for recruiting, staff retention, staff development and performance

JOB KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

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

AGE SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES:

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

EDUCATION:

• Master’s Degree Preferred in Nursing or Health Administration, Business, or Health Policy
• BSN required

EXPERIENCE:

• Leadership/Management Experience Preferred

LICENSE:

• Current Commonwealth of Massachusetts Registered Nurse License
• Specialty Certification Preferred

WORKING CONDITIONS/PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

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