Position Description: Director, Patient Care Services, Practice and Education - Stanford Hospital & Clinics

Our highly prestigious client, Stanford Hospital & Clinics (SHC) is known worldwide for advanced patient care, particularly for the treatment of rare, complex disorders in areas such as cardiac care, cancer treatment, neurology, neurosurgery and organ transplants.  Stanford Hospital includes 611 licensed beds.  The clinics offer care in more than 100 specialties, including cancer, neurology, surgery and organ transplantation. 

Patients come to Stanford from all over the Western United States and the world, often for specialized procedures unavailable elsewhere.  In recognition of excellent care, the hospital and physicians consistently rank among the top in the nation in surveys by consumers and health care professionals. In July, 2002, Stanford was named to the Honor Roll of America's Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.  The Hospital was ranked #14 out of 100, in 2004.

Management

An overview of top management of the hospital shows an exceptional blend of clinical, operational and business expertise in the field of acute and specialty care and services.  Underlying the management team's skill-set is a passionate, deep-seeded and visionary commitment to excellence, innovation and growth.  The style of management and the organizational culture of excellence are deeply rooted in teamwork and mutual support. 

The level of teamwork and support among the management staff is extraordinarily high and remarkably effective.  This group of Managers and Directors, with their collaborative style and complete commitment to the mission, is the heart of the department’s success.  It is readily apparent that the management team consistently emphasizes teamwork, individual achievement and making the job fun.

To complement the management team, an individual must be able to blend their individual success into that of the entire team and share in the commitment and the satisfaction of taking care of the healthcare needs of the community.

Position Description

The Director, Patient Care Services, Practice and Education is responsible for ensuring clinical effectiveness and continuous professional advancement by developing the capacity of the Patient Care Services (PCS) workforce and systems. Through development and integration of interdisciplinary staff, advanced practitioners and managers within PCS, the Director ensures optimal clinical quality, patient safety and effective utilization of resources.  The position drives strategic direction, planning, and the professional development for the division of PCS.  

Reporting Relationships

The Director, Patient Care Services, Practice and Education is directly responsible to and evaluated by the Vice President of Patient Care Services/Chief Nursing Officer, and collaborates closely and productively with the Associate Director of Nursing, Patient Care Directors and Managers.  This position is responsible for approximately 20-FTE’s including Clinical Nurse Specialists, Nurse Educators, Quality Control Coordinators, Magnet Status Coordinator, Policy and Procedures Coordinator and the Manager for the Center for Professional Education.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

• Applies knowledge of dimensions of patient care services excellence to strategic planning, program/process integration, capacity development and PCS evaluation metrics.
• Ensures PCS continuous readiness and compliance to regulatory standards.
• Optimizes clinical practice effectiveness through collaboration, supervision, and direction of advance clinicians.
• Coordinates integration of research findings, changes in practice and educational programs into daily operations.
• Manages resources including direct reports and budgets to provide efficient, effective, cost-effective, outcome oriented staff education and training.
• Strengthens evidence-base foundation for policies/procedures, and fosters consistency in implementation of policies/procedures.
• Provides oversight and coordination for PCS interdisciplinary governance councils and strategic teams/initiatives.
• Provides administrative leadership and direction for Magnet Nursing Hospital preparation and application process.
• Uses principles of adult learning and instructional design systems to implement multifaceted PCS education program/curriculum that ensures staff competency, role development and personal work related goal attainment.
• Develops the capacity of the PCS leadership team and systems within PCS to implement innovation and expedite change.
• Establishes collaborative relationships with internal and external individuals, organizations, and institutions.
• Provides leadership for research activities within the department in conjunction with the Center for Innovation in Patient Care and the PCS Research Council.
• Collaborates in developing, measuring and disseminating internal and external benchmarking report and dashboard data that capture PCS excellence and drive ongoing performance improvement.

Personal Characteristics

The Director, Patient Care Services, Practice and Education, needs to possess the patience, self-confidence and communication skills necessary to work with the clinical and administrative staff and the Physicians.

First and foremost, this individual needs to be a team player, be a superb communicator and have the style of a diplomat, i.e., be able to work in harmony with other operational entities and to negotiate agreements so each party benefits. It is imperative that he/she be skilled in bringing together the staff functions in a spirit of harmony and with a single-minded purpose.

A hands-on leader who can develop a strategic vision of the department and has the expertise to develop values and goals for a diverse group of constituents will be successful.  The successful candidate will have a proven record of accomplishment of strong leadership skills to ensure that the improvement process within the department continues, that priorities are established and the goals are met.

The successful candidate will be a person who possesses a strong work ethic, rejects setbacks and values accomplishments highly.  An action-oriented personality that deals with specifics within a broad conceptual framework will be most effective in this position.  This individual will have an appropriate sense of urgency to react to situations quickly and decisively.

Licensure, Certification and Qualifications

• Current California RN license required. Proof of eligibility for California RN, in lieu of current Licensure may be accepted.
• BSN in nursing required.
• Graduate education required; Master's in nursing preferred; a related field may be acceptable.
• Earned doctorate in nursing or related field preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years in acute care setting in varied clinical, educational or administrative roles.
• Established capacity for professional leadership within and between organizations.
• Able to articulate a strategic vision for staff and leadership development.
• Evidence of competency in clinical quality planning, measurement and improvement.
• Evidence of experience in research conduct and utilization focusing on improving clinical quality, costs, outcomes and/or patient safety preferred.
• Evidence of skilled strategic collaboration and communication (written, verbal and group process).

Compensation

The compensation plan is based on a competitive base salary commensurate with the experience and the demonstrated accomplishments of the successful candidate.  It will reflect the opportunity at the hospital. The hospital has an excellent employee benefits package, consisting of medical coverage, a dental plan, life insurance, Defined Benefit Retirement Plan and a 403 b program with employer matching.

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