Finding the right director of nursing is crucial for the success and organization of your medical team. A potential candidate must possess good leadership and operational skills in order to lead their team when providing the best patient care services.
Director of nursing job description: what does a director of nursing do?
Although it may depend on every medical and healthcare facility, the responsibilities of director of nursing in general could still have something in common.
Here are some of them:
- Oversees the daily operation of the whole nursing department from taskforce, schedules, etc.
- Responsible for making sure that the goals and objectives of the department is met
- Imposes nursing policies and procedures
- Responsible for training, exposure and evaluation of the staff
- Key person if there are any patient complaints
- Works closely with doctors and executives
- There are also instances that nursing directors are required to manage the department’s budget
- Expected to provide initiatives for a better service improvement
- Management of medical databases, such as diagnosis, billing, scheduling
- Sometimes director of nursing may also be involved in medical researches
6 things that you should look for when hiring a nursing director
The success of a medical workforce heavily relies on how well a nursing director does his/her job. Here are 6 important things you should look for when hiring a nursing director:
1. Has a good leadership traits
Right off the bat, a good nursing director should imply a sense of leadership to their team. A good leader is always committed to their duties and responsibilities.
When hiring a nurse director for your medical team, look for someone that possesses the ability not just to work collaboratively with their staff but also the one who can make huge decisions for the sake of the team, the patients and themselves.
2. Possesses a superior clinical skills and expertise
As the healthcare industry concerns the life of people, superior clinical skills and expertise should be one of the major factors when hiring a nursing director. Skills and expertise often always comes with practice that is why nurses with years on their resumes are often considered for this position – this is to ensure the wellbeing of every patient that they serve.
It also adds to the “trustworthiness factor” for other team members when they know their director/team lead is backed with experience.
3. Good Interpersonal Skills
A qualified nursing director should also possess good interpersonal skills such as communication and collaboration when working with the rest of the team. A good and effective communication skills makes the job easier and ward off any possible issues internally and outside the team.
Collaboration is also one of the key traits in making a good team chemistry – how well does he blend and conspire with the team members in order to create a harmonious medical workforce.
4. Organization and Consistency
One of the nursing director’s responsibility is to create schedules for the staff such as meetings and work shifts. Handling personnel files may also come into play (depending on the company or medical facility).
Because of these fast-paced duties, there is a chance of getting lost and mixed up. It is important that nursing directors are able to keep up to this pace and yet be as organized and consistent as possible.
As mentioned above, the success of a medical workforce relies heavily on how well the nursing director performs on their duties and responsibilities. If you ever need help to hire a nursing director for your team, you can contact De Vore Recruiting to assist your onboarding needs.
