How To Become An Inpatient Services Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is an inpatient services director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average inpatient services director salary is $115,320. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an nursing major. It usually takes 4-6 years of experience to become an inpatient services director. Inpatient services directors with a Basic Life Support for Healthcare and Public Safety (BLS) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 28% and produce 136,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreInpatient Services DirectorUS Average

Salary

8.0

Avg. Salary $115,320

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 28%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.72%

Asian 7.67%

Black or African American 11.57%

Hispanic or Latino 14.63%

Unknown 4.27%

White 61.13%

Gender

female 70.10%

male 29.90%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an inpatient services director

Explore inpatient services director education requirements

Most common inpatient services director degrees

Bachelor's

40.9 %

Master's

32.8 %

Associate

18.3 %

Start to develop specific inpatient services director skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	30.38%
Inpatient Services	7.70%
Patient Safety	7.62%
Quality Patient Care	6.16%
Acute Care	6.07%

Complete relevant inpatient services director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New inpatient services directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an inpatient services director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real inpatient services director resumes.

Research inpatient services director duties and responsibilities

Manage PPS details efficiently to ensure high quality clinical care while maximizing reimbursement for the facility.
Provide and direct therapy services to patients including assessment, treatment, program planning and implementation, relate documentation and communication.
Monitor program budgets and provide program oversight to ensure compliance with regulatory bodies.
Provide oversight to inpatient expansion trainers to assure a timely, clinically compliant and deficiency free expansion process.

Get inpatient services director experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become an inpatient services director. The most common roles before becoming an inpatient services director include staff nurse, registered nurse team lead and nurse manager.

Prepare your inpatient services director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your inpatient services director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an inpatient services director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable inpatient services director resume templates

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