The Nurse Manager operates within the Springfield Memorial Hospital and Nursing Division mission, vision, strategic priorities and goals.  Utilizing a shared leadership philosophy, the Nurse Manager assumes accountability for unit management and the quality of patient care on a designated unit(s).  The Nurse Manager creates and maintains a work environment conducive to effective communication, collaboration, teambuilding and nursing professionalism.  They ensure the enculturation of the Magnet Program requirements on the unit.  She/he assures that care provided on the unit is appropriate to the age of the patients served and that staff are competent to provide safe, quality, evidence-based nursing care.  She/he maintains positive physician and interdepartmental relationships as well as positive employee morale.

Main Surgery Services is responsible for Admission and Phase II recovery for Springfield Memorial's Main OR. 

Education:

• BSN required; Master’s degree preferred.

Licensure/Certification/Registry:

• Current Illinois RN licensure required.
• Holds national specialty nursing certification in clinical area or nursing administration, or completes within 24 months of assuming role.

Experience:

• At least three years experience in acute care nursing as a registered nurse with demonstrated progressive leadership/management skills.

Other Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Demonstrated working knowledge of the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program model and standards.
• Demonstrated understanding of nurse-sensitive quality indicators and basic hospital/nursing regulatory requirements.

Leadership:

Personal and Professional Growth:

• Demonstrates responsibility for own personal and professional growth as reflected in ongoing education, projects, and annual professional development plan.
• Provides and receives formal peer-to-peer feedback among nurse leader colleagues.
• Empowers self and staff to enhance patient-focused nursing care and quality patient outcomes as reflected in patient satisfaction and quality improvement efforts.

• Fosters an environment which focuses on values, professionalism and accountability, where staff and management see each other as partners in the decision making process.

• Serves as a professional nurse role model and works to encourage and develop future nursing leaders as a function of succession planning.

Clinical Knowledge:

• Maintains an understanding of the unit’s primary patient populations and their care needs/requirements.

• Keeps up-to-date on new clinical treatments/services being developed/implemented for primary patient populations.

• Maintains a sound knowledge base of current trends and developments in nursing practice in order to lead unit-based changes to improve patient care delivery.

Collaborative Practice:

• Demonstrates ability and willingness to collaborate with peers and staff.

• Shows commitment to the development of inter-departmental/intraprofessional collaboration for improvement of patient care, unit efficiency and effectiveness.

• Develops working relationships with the medical staff that encourage problem solving on all levels.

• Builds and maintains a strong Unit-Based Council to facilitate shared decision-making process.

Community Involvement:

• Involves self with professional organizations and community health-related services and agencies.

Communication Skill:

• Encourages and facilitates a work climate conducive to open, honest communication and incorporates an effective information sharing process to ensure staff are kept up to date on key changes/issues affecting their work processes.

• Demonstrates a communication style which is supportive and non-threatening, thus providing an environment that allows for open expression of ideas and problem solving.

• Attends Nurse Management Council and Department Managers’ meetings and relays pertinent information to staff.

Human Resource:

• Is accountable for recruitment, interviewing, selection and retention of unit-based staff.

• Is accountable for scheduling of personnel to assure quality patient care within budget requirements. 

• Is accountable for staff performance monitoring/feedback/appraisal and initiating corrective/disciplinary action as necessary, in accordance with hospital policies. 

• Holds regular staff meetings in order to facilitate communication of organizational imperatives/changes as well as unit issues.

• Encourages staff to identify personal and professional growth needs and facilitates appropriate opportunities for that growth. 

• Maintains a climate which provides ongoing appreciation and recognition of achievements. 
• Supports appropriate risk-taking efforts by staff and peers.
• Assists in the development of and supports divisional programs/initiatives that promote recruitment/retention and satisfaction of staff members.

Fiscal Management:

Budget Preparation:

• Participates in the preparation of the annual budget for areas of responsibility.

• Identifies capital equipment items needed.

• Identifies and evaluates present and future staffing needs.

Budget Monitoring:

• Establishes quotas of supplies, analyzes financial and productivity reports.

• Reviews and evaluates monthly expenditures and operating statements and implements corrective action plans to address variances as necessary.

• Designs and implements cost-effective strategies that will enhance effective and efficient patient care delivery.

• Educates staff regarding operation of the unit and fiscal responsibilities.

• Maintains sound knowledge base of current trends and developments in health care related to reimbursement issues.

Planning:

• Engages staff in developing annual unit goals and individual goals consistent with MMC’s Strategic Priorities, the MHS Nursing Strategic Plan and the MMC annual Nursing goals.

• Develops mechanisms with staff to fulfill unit goals and objectives.

• Reviews goals and plans of action with staff on a regular basis.

Performance and Outcomes Improvement:

• Identifies quality improvement opportunities and uses appropriate QI tools/techniques to evaluate potential solutions.

• Leads intra-and inter-departmental problem solving to ensure resolution of clinical issues and adoption of “best practices.”

• Collaborates with staff in evaluating standards of care in relation to a particular patient population. Measures and validates that identified outcomes are met. 

• Assures unit performance measurement data is gathered, monitored and reported and facilitates its use in improving quality and/or efficiency.

Research:

• Creates an environment that promotes analytical thinking in the resolution of identified clinical problems and the adoption of evidence-based nursing practice. 

• Provides opportunities and resources to encourage staff to participate in nursing research/scholarship activities.

• Fosters collaborative research relationships with other healthcare institutions and healthcare providers.

Performs other related work as required or requested.