Chief Nursing Officer - CNO - Adult Services

Position Title:

Chief Nursing Officer - CNO - Adult Services

Department:

Administration

Job Description:

General Description:

The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) has accountability for daily operations, ensuring that nursing care performance at the facility level meets the quality, safety and financial targets established by the system. The CNO leads facility-wide professional nursing care, in alignment with the American Nurses Association’s Standards of Practice and Professional Performance, the Code of Ethics for Nurses and the Social Policy Statement in the pursuit, attainment and maintenance of Magnet Recognition Program.

In a matrix reporting relationship with the facility Chief Executive, the CNO in partnership with the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) collaborates to implement and evaluates the impact of strategies and initiatives to improve quality, safety, staff and patient engagement outcomes. The CNO operationalizes the immediate strategies, leading the professional nursing staff in implementation and change management in the context of their own environment.

Participates as a member of the System Chief Nurse Executive’s Council, in standardization and evaluation of clinical operations to establish desired nursing outcomes relevant to nursing practice system-wide. As a member of the facility’s leadership team, the CNO is expected to demonstrate transparency, integrity, and consistency in all interactions and to work collaboratively with peers, supporting them as well as holding them accountable as members of the leadership team. Serves as an ex-officio member of the facility’s Medical Executive Committee.

Essential Responsibilities:

Communication and Relationship Building

Effective Communication—Demonstrate skill in interpersonal communication.

• Communicate in a way as to maintain credibility and relationships.
• Make oral presentations and produce written materials to diverse audiences.
• Create a shared vision.
• Assert views in non-threatening, non-judgmental ways.

Relationship Management—Create a trusting environment by following through on promises and concerns, establishing mechanisms to follow-up on commitments and balancing the concerns of individuals with facility goals and objectives.

• Engaging staff and others in decision-making, promote decisions that are patient-centered.
• Facilitate consensus building to achieve outcomes through engagement of stakeholders.
• Inspire desired behaviors and manage undesired behaviors by addressing and modeling appropriate conflict resolution.

Diversity—Establish an environment that values diversity (e.g. age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture).

• Establish cultural competency in the workforce.
• Incorporate cultural beliefs into care delivery.
• Provide an environment conducive to opinion sharing, exploration of ideas and achievement of outcomes.

Community Involvement—Represent the facility to non-health care constituents within the community, serving as a resource to community and business leaders regarding nursing and health care.

• Represent the community perspective in the decision-making process within the facility.
• Serve on community-based boards, advisory groups, and task forces.

Medical and Staff Relationships—Build credibility with physicians as a champion for patient care, quality and the professional practice of nursing. Create opportunities for physicians and nurses to engage in professional dialogue.

• Collaborate with medical staff leaders and other disciplines in determining needed patient care service lines, equipment, facility needs, developing patient care protocols, policies and procedures.
• Confront and address inappropriate or disruptive behavior towards patients and staff using medical staff bylaws to address physician performance issues.
• Represent nursing at medical executive committee and other department and medical staff committees.

Academic Relationships—Accountable for maintaining and promoting positive academic relationships within the facility, in support of system-wide strategies relative to nursing workforce, education and development.

• Determine current and future supply and demand for facility nurses to meet the care delivery needs.
• Identify educational needs of facility nursing staff.
• Collaborate with appropriate nursing programs in evaluating quality of graduating clinicians and developing mechanisms to enhance this quality, and by serving on academic advisory councils.
• Collaborate in nursing research translating evidence into practice, and in investigating care delivery models across the continuum.

Business Skills

Financial Management—Develop and manage an annual operating budget, interpret financial statements and manage financial resources.

• Use business models for health care organizations and apply fundamental concepts of economics.
• Ensure the use of accurate service charging mechanisms.
• Educate patient care team members on financial implications of patient care decisions.
• Participate in contract compliance (e.g., physicians, service providers).

Human Resources Management—Participate in workforce planning and employment decisions, analyze supply and demand market data, contribute to the development of compensation, recruitment, onboarding, retention, reward and recognition strategies. 

• Ensure development and implementation of an outcome-based performance management program.
• Ensure development of educational programs to foster workforce competencies, development goals, and re-educate the workforce for future new roles.
• Evaluate the results of employee engagement and quality of work environment surveys.
• Formulate programs to enhance work-life balance and healthful work environments, and to address sexual harassment, workplace violence, and verbal and physical abuse.

Strategic Management—Create the operational objectives, goals and specific strategies required to achieve specific strategic outcomes in the facility.

• Promote system mission, vision, and values for nursing within the facility, leading that process and encouraging active engagement.
• Participate in facility strategy development, conduct SWOT and Gap analyses, engaging staff members and ensuring communication of broad strategy throughout the facility.
• Defend the business case for nursing.
• Utilize the balanced scorecard analysis to manage change, evaluate achievement of operational objectives and goals.
• Identify marketing opportunities, collaborate with marketing experts in developing marketing strategies and in promoting the image of nursing and the facility through effective media relations.

Information Management & Technology—Promote technology in supporting improvement of clinical and financial performance, use data management systems for decision-making and provide leadership for the adoption and implementation of information systems.

• Collaborate in prioritization of information technology resources and participate in evaluation of enabling technology in practice settings.
• Identify technological trends, issues and new developments as they apply to patient care.

Knowledge of the Health Care Environment

Clinical Practice Knowledge—Demonstrate knowledge of current nursing practice and the roles and functions of patient care team members ensuring compliance with the State Nurse Practice Act, State Board of Nursing regulations, state and federal regulatory agency standards, federal labor standards and policies of the organization.

• Communicate patient care standards as established by accreditation, regulatory and quality agencies and adhere to professional association standards of nursing care and professional practice.
• Ensure that written facility clinical policies and procedures are reviewed and updated in accordance with evidence-based practice.
• Ensure protection of human subject rights and safety in clinical research.

Delivery Models & Work Design—Assess the effectiveness of delivery models, develop new patient care delivery models across the continuum and participate in the design of facilities.

• Utilize various delivery systems and age-appropriate patient care models and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
• Align care delivery models and staff performance with key safety and economic drivers (e.g., value-based purchasing, bundled payment). 
• Take appropriate action when opportunities exist to respond effectively to environmental changes.

Health Care Economics & Policy—Understand regulation and payment issues that affect a facilities’s finances and use knowledge of federal and state laws and regulations that affect the provision of patient care (e.g., tort reform, malpractice, negligence, reimbursement).

• Monitor individual facility’s payer mix, CMI and benchmark database.
• Participate in legislative process on health care issues through such mechanisms as membership in professional organization and personal contact with officials.
• Educate patient care team members on the legislative process, the regulatory process and methods for influencing both.
• Interpret impact of legislation at the state and federal level on facility nursing practice.

Governance—Use knowledge of the role of the governing body of the facility and system in the following areas: fiduciary responsibilities, credentialing and performance management.

• Participate in strategic planning and quality initiatives with the governing body, represent nursing and other disciplines at the facility’s board meetings.
• Interact with and educate the facility’s board members regarding the value of nursing care.

Evidence-based Practice, Outcome Measurement & Research—Use data and other sources of evidence to inform decision making, and to establish standards, practices and patient care models in alignment with system-wide nursing colleagues.

• Design feedback mechanisms by which to adapt practice based upon outcomes from current processes.
• Design and interpret outcome measures.
• Disseminate research findings to patient care team members.
• Allocate nursing resources based on measurement of patient acuity and care needed.
• Monitor and address nurse sensitive outcomes and satisfaction indicators.

Patient Safety—Support the development of an facility-wide patient safety program using knowledge of patient safety science (e.g., human factors, complex adaptive systems, LEAN and Six Sigma).

• Monitor clinical activities to identify both expected and unexpected risks.
• Support a Just Culture (non-punitive) reporting environment, supporting a system for identifying unsafe practices.
• Facilitate and, as needed, lead performance improvement teams to improve systems and processes that enhance patient safety.

Performance Improvement & Metrics—Articulate the facility’s performance improvement program and goals using evidence-based metrics to align patient outcomes with the system’s goals and objectives.

• Apply high reliability concepts for the organization.
• Establish quality metrics by identifying the problem and/or process.
• Measure success at improving specific areas of patient care.
• Analyze the root causes or variation from quality standards.

Risk Management—Identify areas of risk and liability, develop systems that result in prompt reporting of potential liability by staff at all levels.

• Facilitate staff education on risk management and compliance issues.
• Identify early-warning predictability indicators for errors.
• Correct areas of potential liability.
• Ensure compliance by staff with all required standards.

Leadership

Foundational Thinking Skills—Apply critical analysis to facility issues after a review of the evidence to explore new knowledge and ideas.

• Recognize one’s own method of decision making and the role of beliefs, values and inferences.

Systems Thinking—Provide visionary thinking on issues that impact the healthcare facility.

• Use knowledge of classic and contemporary systems thinking in problem solving and decision making.
• Promote systems thinking as an expectation of leaders and staff.
• Consider the impact of nursing decisions on the healthcare facility as a whole.

Succession Planning—Drive leader development within the facility, identifying opportunities and promoting growth and development of leaders at all levels of the facility.

• Develop a leadership succession plan, establishing mechanisms that provide for early identification and mentoring of staff with leadership potential.
• Promote nursing leadership as a desirable specialty.
• Mentor current and future nurse leaders.

Change Management—As a change leader, use change theory to implement change.

• Adapt leadership style to situational needs.

Professionalism

Personal & Professional Accountability—Hold self and others accountable for mutual professional expectations and outcomes.

• Participate in and contribute to professional organizations and contribute to the advancement of the profession.
• Encourage leader and staff participation in professional organizations, lifelong learning and educational achievement.
• Role model standards of professional practice (clinical, educational and leadership) for colleagues and constituents.

Ethics—Hold self and staff accountable to comply with ethical standards of practice.

• Uphold ethical principles and corporate compliance standards.
• Discuss, resolve and learn from ethical dilemmas.

Advocacy—Advocate for nursing issues at the facility level in concert with the strategies identified within the nursing strategic plan, and promote the clinical perspective in organizational decisions.

• Involve nurses and other staff in decisions that affect their practice.
• Represent the perspective of patients and families.
• Advocate for optimal health care in the community.

Career Planning—Develop a personal and professional career plan and measure progress.

• Coach others in developing their own career plans.
• Seek input and mentorship from others in career planning and development. Solicit and act on feedback about personal strengths and weaknesses.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

• Minimum: Master's of Science degree in nursing
• Preferred: PhD or Doctoral degree in nursing or related field
• Eligible for academic appointment in the College of Nursing

Licensure/Certifications/Registrations Required:

• Minimum: Currently licensed as a registered professional nurse in the state in which he or she practices, in accordance with law and regulation
• Preferred: Board-certification in health care or nursing executive practice

Experience

Required:

• 10 to 12 years of progressive leadership experience in multiple types of health care organizations and/or health care systems.
• 5 years in a senior leadership role in one or more of the areas that are under the direction of this position, preferably in a large, academic health care system.

Preferred:

• Work experience in a multi-hospital system or integrated delivery system.
• Broad based knowledge of the full scope of operations in an accredited academic medical center or primary teaching hospital of comparable size and scope to OU Health.
• Additional experience in a leadership role in ambulatory care and a physician practice.
• Experience working with and/or reporting to Governing Boards.
• Academic teaching and/or research experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Skill at communicating with impact to effectively engage others and achieve desired results Required
• Skill in recognizing the broad or long-term implications of business decisions and plans. Required
• Skilled in effectively handling multiple conflicting assignments, demands, and priorities with great attention to detail Required
• Skill in creating written material that has a logical flow of thoughts and ideas. Required
• Skill in generating novel or unusual ideas and solutions in response to business issues and problems. Required
• Willingness to develop solutions or consider proposals that challenge status quo assumptions or pro forma operations and remove barriers and enable success of prioritized solutions Required
• Willingness to be proactive and work at connecting with and building cooperative relationships with others. Required
• Willingness to focus on employee development through exposure, experiences, and feedback. Required
• Skill in identifying assignments designed to stretch and develop others' capabilities. Required

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OU Health is an equal opportunity employer. We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including PTO, 401(k), medical and dental plans, and many more. We know that a total benefits and compensation package, designed to meet your specific needs both inside and outside of the work environment, create peace of mind for you and your family.