What does a nursing director do?
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.
Nursing director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nursing director resumes:
- Manage FTE'S of the units.
- Manage FTE numbers by following staffing grids.
- Lead in the implementation of whole house telemetry.
- Manage and provide inpatient nursing care for all aspects of general surgery.
- Manage and coordinate all aspects of nursing and ancillary services for successful operation of the SNF.
- Complete comprehensive assessments for all LTC residents which include managing falls, pain, skin integrity, and medications.
- Plan, implement and evaluate nursing QA as well as staff development, CPR, and employee health programs.
- Establish policies and procedures for infection control and universal precautions to protect patients and prevent contamination or transmission of disease.
- Facilitate the survey process for the department of surgery.
- Assist in the creation of independent PACU computer charting program.
- Create a culture of compassion, empowerment and forward thinking among the employees
- Work under the DNS to ensure that nursing services conform to state and federal guidelines.
- Interpret and apply federal, state and local laws, OSHA regulations, policies and procedures.
- Schedule CPR for all staff and maintain records as to when the CPR need to be renew.
- Involve in staff schedules, evaluations and ultimately in charge of the nursing department when DNS are gone.
Nursing director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Nursing Directors are proficient in Patients, Term Care, and Home Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Emotional stability, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Nursing Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 16%
Provided medication administration, care coordination for patients on ventilator support, intravenous therapy, and other medical services.
- Term Care, 8%
Contributed solid nursing experience toward successfully directing and supervising clinical functions for 60- bed skilled nursing/long term care facility.
- Home Health, 7%
Participated in strategic planning sessions for Home Health Agency development, target market analysis and recruitment strategies.
- Resident Care, 6%
Coordinate interdisciplinary patient/resident care management efforts.
- Rehabilitation, 5%
Implemented and chaired interdisciplinary rehabilitation committee.
- Infection Control, 5%
Prepared and administered medications to various consumers, and ensured that infection control policies were maintained upon each visit.
"patients," "term care," and "home health" are among the most common skills that nursing directors use at work. You can find even more nursing director responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. Another crucial skill for a nursing director to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what nursing directors relies on this skill, since "medical and health services managers must convey information to their staff, other healthcare workers, and, sometimes, patients and insurance agents." How this skill relates to nursing director duties can be seen in an example from a nursing director resume snippet: "implemented interact 4.0 communication, quality improvement system usage in facility. "
Detail oriented. While "detail oriented" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to nursing director responsibilities. Much of what a nursing director does relies on this skill, seeing as "medical and health services managers must pay attention to detail." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of nursing directors: "detailed isp 's, oversight of medication administration, wound care and staffing. "
The three companies that hire the most nursing directors are:
- ProMedica Toledo Hospital123 nursing directors jobs
- The Center for Health Care Services80 nursing directors jobs
- Brookdale Senior Living40 nursing directors jobs
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Compare different nursing directors
Nursing director vs. Director of professional services
A director of professional services is responsible for evaluating and improving the professional services offered by the firm. Directors of professional services assess the operational processes and systems to ensure high-quality outputs and deliverables. They review contracts for project requirements and specifications and design strategic techniques to achieve goals and objectives within the budget limitations and agreed timetables. A director of professional services must have excellent communication and leadership skills, especially in directing the project team for project solutions.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, nursing director responsibilities require skills like "term care," "home health," "resident care," and "rehabilitation." Meanwhile a typical director of professional services has skills in areas such as "healthcare," "client facing," "software development," and "business development." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Directors of professional services really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $143,973. Comparatively, nursing directors tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $83,602.The education levels that directors of professional services earn slightly differ from nursing directors. In particular, directors of professional services are 5.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a nursing director. Additionally, they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nursing director vs. Director of clinical operations
A director of clinical operations is responsible for monitoring the overall operations of a clinic facility, ensuring the efficiency of staff performance in providing the best quality care services for the patients. Directors of clinical operations enforce safety guidelines and security procedures during operations for everyone's strict compliance to prevent hazards and unforeseen circumstances within the premises. They also assist in clinical trials, as well as reviewing medical procedures, recommending strategic plans to improve medical approaches. A director of clinical operations handles the clinic budget, allocates adequate resources for every department's needs, and tracks medical inventory reports.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that nursing director responsibilities requires skills like "term care," "resident care," "cpr," and "direct patient care." But a director of clinical operations might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "healthcare," "patient care," "gcp," and "project management."
Directors of clinical operations may earn a higher salary than nursing directors, but directors of clinical operations earn the most pay in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $139,321. On the other hand, nursing directors receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $83,602.In general, directors of clinical operations achieve higher levels of education than nursing directors. They're 11.4% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nursing director vs. Director of staff development
Directors of Staff Development schedule and publicize staff development activities as per the established guidelines to promote professional development. They perform personnel functions to achieve budget objectives, enhance personnel productivity, and maintain adequate staffing. Furthermore, these professionals research crucial information to develop new programs matching staff training needs. Also, Directors of Staff Development monitor professional development services to achieve performance results as per the department and budget objectives. They develop plans and programs for the effective utilization of company resources.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from nursing director resumes include skills like "term care," "customer service," "quality improvement," and "nursing home," whereas a director of staff development is more likely to list skills in "in-service training," "quality care," "training programs," and "tb. "
Directors of staff development make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $80,467. On the other hand, nursing directors are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $83,602.directors of staff development typically earn higher educational levels compared to nursing directors. Specifically, they're 6.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nursing director vs. Director, network operations
As a network operations director, you will be responsible for overseeing the availability and overall performance of a company's network. You will perform varied tasks that include analyzing the network and recommending changes or upgrades, ensuring compliance to best practices, promoting continuous information operations, and overseeing other technical resources. A network operations director is expected to provide expertise in networking and operating system and project management. You are responsible for managing all vendor-related support contracts for software, hardware, and connectivity.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between nursing directors and directors, network operations, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a nursing director might have more use for skills like "patients," "term care," "home health," and "resident care." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of directors, network operations require skills like "network management," "network development," "san," and "direct reports. "
Directors, network operations enjoy the best pay in the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $150,612. For comparison, nursing directors earn the highest salary in the health care industry.In general, directors, network operations hold higher degree levels compared to nursing directors. Directors, network operations are 10.1% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of nursing director
Updated January 8, 2025
