Nursing Director

REPORTS TO : Medical Director
SUPERVISES : Deputy Nursing Director, Unit Managers.

SUMMARY OF ROLE

To manage the entire patient care nursing process achieving determined levels of quality care and standards of service in the most cost-efficient manner and within agreed budgets

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS (KPA)

1. PATIENT CARE
2. PRODUCTIVITY
3. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
4. STAFFING MANAGEMENT
5. MANAGEMENT REPORTING
6. CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
7. MANAGEMENT PROCESS

RESPONSIBILITIES PATIENT CARE

 Achieve consistently acceptable clinical results in patient care
 Determine standards and quality goals of patient care
 Implement and monitor these standards and quality goals to ensure the consistent maintenance of such objectives
 Determine parameters for nursing audit activities, implementing and monitoring taking appropriate action as required
 Coordinating and monitoring (in conjunction with Nursing Unit Managers, patient services, and credit control) the timeous and accurate recording of stock used on patients so as to achieve an up to date account which reflects the patient stay.
 Ensure that patient care is delivered in the most cost-efficient manner

PRODUCTIVITY
 Achieve optimum productivity levels from staff
 Achieve sound professional relationships with doctors and all other medical professionals
 Achieve sound relationships with all other hospital departments with the highest cooperation levels
 Determine and maintain an organization structure that meets the needs of the hospital, balancing cost and quality.
 Create and consistently maintain a working environment for staff to feel well managed and supported so as to achieve jointly agreed productivity levels both in quantity and quality output in all Units
 Coordinate and timeously manage the staff performance appraisal process (in liaison with the CEO) so as to identify staff needs, jointly agree on goals and objectives, identify training needs, identify developmental opportunities and build strong relationships with staff.
 Develop and maintain succession plans to allow for staff development and continuity of workflow and responsibilities in all nursing levels
 Build a professional relationship with all other functional managers in the hospital so as to achieve optimum functionality, cooperation and efficiency thereby creating an environment for teamwork and high staff morale amongst all levels of staff and other parties.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
 Achieve, and target to improve upon, financial and staffing management budgets
 Meeting of nursing department budgets and all relevant KPI’s:- staffing (as per above), expenses, stock, capital equipment
 Coordinate the timeous preparation of unit budgets, justifying to CEO or Board of Directors and obtaining approval of such budgets.
 Monitor and control the actual performance against approved budgets thereby ensuring that the cost input is matched by agreed levels of productivity output
 Reporting to CEO on variances
 Assist Nursing Unit Managers to determine appropriate stock levels for each unit
 Monitor stock valuations on a regular basis and receiving reports from Nursing Unit Managers on
variances, stock losses, billing problems and any matter that may impact on profitability
 Liaise with Pharmacy Manager in regard to all matters regarding Pharmacy service delivery and stock control

STAFFING MANAGEMENT
 Staffing level at agreed occupancies per unit and appropriate skills mix
 All relevant staffing management KPI’s: worked hours, paid hours, acuity benchmarks, absenteeism, rate per hour, patient servicing costs per patient per day (PPD)
 Determine specific goals and targets of worked and paid Nursing hours for each for each Unit, in conjunction with each Nursing Unit Manager, based on forecast patient acuity levels and mix of medical disciplines
 Ensure maximum flexibility of staff, coordinating the redeploying staff within all units as may be required on a daily, weekly and monthly basis
 Targets to be timeously measured against actual performance and differences discussed and justified.
 Cost per worked and paid hour to be targeted and timeously measured to ensure the balance between quality and cost is adequately maintained.
 Specific statistics and costs to be managed are: - working hours, paid hours, agency/part-time hours, overtime hours, absenteeism hours, total FTE’s
 Recruit, select and appoint, in conjunction with Nursing Unit Manager, new staff ensuring that they meet the demands of the job and general hospital culture
 Determine and implement staff induction and orientation programmes
 Coordinate the leave scheduling of nursing staff and ensure that the administration of leave is up to date and accurate
 Initiate and manage staff training programmes focused on clinical skills, quality management, patient care, interpersonal skills, team spirit and morale, staff development and marketing.
 Monitor the outcomes of such training programmes to ensure the achievement of cost efficiencies and agreed goals

MANAGEMENT REPORTING
 Timeously prepare and submit concise, meaningful and appropriate reports to CEO for discussion at monthly Management (Opco/Exco) meetings covering all key nursing activities, and KPI’s, that impact on patient care, productivity, customer service levels, financial performance and any other area that may have clinical or other implications. Attending all management meetings debating and contributing the nursing point of view
 Chair regular Nursing Management meetings, including all Nursing Unit Managers, determining meeting agenda, addressing key performance areas and ensuring that minutes are timeously distributed thereafter

CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
 Manage patient complaints regarding nursing or functional services (or achieve consistently increasing compliments from patients)
 Manage complaints from doctors regarding nursing staff clinical expertise or behaviour
 To manage incidents in terms of patient care standards not being met
 Develop and consistently focus on the need to continuously develop programmes to achieve quality improvements or improved work processes through being aware of the needs of customers being doctors, patients, the general public and managed care organisations, and ensure that these needs are comprehensively and consistently met, given budgetary constraints
 Monitor feedback from the patient feedback system taking up any matter accordingly and timeously feeding back to patients (or other source) as required

MANAGEMENT PROCESS
 Manage the staff performance appraisal system in nursing
 Regularly test the climate of motivation and staff relationships. Build positive relationships with all functional areas within the hospital so as to achieve optimum levels of cooperation between nursing and each unit within nursing management responsibility, thereby ensuring that the hospital to operates as a single integrated unit.
 Be aware of the conditions contained in the Labour t and the Occupational Health and Safety Act that apply to hospitals and employment generally and ensure that such requirements are met in all aspects relative to developing sound relationships with staff, organised labour or trade unions
 Ensure that all assets within the control of nursing are efficiently managed and accounted for. Such assets may be in the form of equipment, materials, stores, linen etc.
 Operate within determined limits of authority in the achievement of agreed goals and objectives.
 Apply the principles of the management process of planning, organising, leading and controlling in the day-to-day activities of all responsibilities of Nursing Department so as to achieve agreed goals and objectives both in the short, medium and long term

LIMITS OF AUTHORITY
 Operate within determined limits of authority in the achievement of the strategic plan and any other agreed goals and objectives as approved by the CEO

SKILLS AND COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS

 Formal presentations to both senior and lower level organization structures
 Chairing of meetings at all levels
 Preparation. Implementation and on-going management of financial budgets
 Staff performance appraisal interviews
 Training and development of staff
 Implementation of change
 Proven leadership
 Proven examples of improvements in Nursing services e.g. quality, cost
 Strong interpersonal skills
 Decisiveness and strong problem solving capabilities
 Mature and professional attitude
 Open minded and willingness to embrace change and implement change decisions
 Acceptance of responsibility and accountability for position and decisions made
 Ability to debate and constructively argue situations either in defence of nursing activities and
results, or motivate recommendations that are in the interests of the hospital

EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION

 Current registration with Nursing and Midwife Council of Ghana
 Business Management Degree or Diploma from recognized and registered education organization (preferred but not essential as long as all other specifications met)
 Mixed specialty nursing experience i.e. at least work experience on medical, surgical, maternity and paediatric units
 Minimum 5 years in a Line Management or Leadership position
 Minimum3 years private hospital experience