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The differences between nursing directors and medical directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a nursing director and a medical director. Additionally, a medical director has an average salary of $230,317, which is higher than the $87,643 average annual salary of a nursing director.
The top three skills for a nursing director include patients, term care and home health. The most important skills for a medical director are patients, medical care, and medical services.
| Nursing Director | Medical Director | |
| Yearly salary | $87,643 | $230,317 |
| Hourly rate | $42.14 | $110.73 |
| Growth rate | 28% | 28% |
| Number of jobs | 76,956 | 75,810 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 4 |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 32% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A nursing director's role is to oversee and evaluate all nurse staff in a hospital or organization, ensuring their efficiency at providing care towards patients. A nursing director's responsibilities mainly revolve around administrative tasks such as coordinating with physicians and other consultants, producing reports, conducting assessments, managing the budget and expenditures, and resolving issues. Furthermore, a nursing director must keep and maintain accurate records, ensuring all procedures adhere to the highest health standards and aligns with the hospital's policies and regulations.
A medical director is responsible for handling the overall supervision of different medical departments, managing the coordination between medical teams to ensure smooth operations and achieve high-quality care services for the patients. Medical directors enforce strict guidelines and safety measures for everyone's adherence. They also implement medical care programs, recruit medical staff, inspect the adequacy of medical equipment, respond to patient's inquiries and concerns, and oversee the facilities' procedures. A medical director manages the budget of the department, allocating equal resources to address every need.
Nursing directors and medical directors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Nursing Director | Medical Director | |
| Average salary | $87,643 | $230,317 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $118,000 | Between $143,000 And $369,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Oculus | UnitedHealth Group |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a nursing director and a medical director in terms of educational background:
| Nursing Director | Medical Director | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 44% | Bachelor's Degree, 32% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Medicine |
| Most common college | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor |
Here are the differences between nursing directors' and medical directors' demographics:
| Nursing Director | Medical Director | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 11.6% Female, 88.4% | Male, 57.0% Female, 43.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.7% Asian, 7.5% White, 61.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 7.9% White, 61.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 12% |