Associate Director Practice & Professional Development - Center for Nursing Excellence

UNC Health; Chapel Hill (NC); On-site; USD 71,000 - 102,000; Full time

Job summary

UNC Health seeks a skilled leader to oversee the Center for Nursing Excellence at UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill. The role directs nursing practice and professional development, aligning with accreditation standards and hospital goals.

You will manage education initiatives, residency programs, and regulatory expectations, while guiding staff performance, budgets, and quality improvements within a top academic medical center.

Qualifications

• Requires Master's degree in Nursing or related field; Bachelor's and Master's in Nursing are required if BSN held.
• 5+ years in nursing; 2+ years in leadership role; 1 year in clinical or management experience.
• Experience in academic medical centers or health care systems preferred.

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily and long-term activities of the Center for Nursing Excellence.
• Provide management direction to nursing practice and professional development leaders and staff.
• Ensure department goals align with hospital objectives; manage personnel, budget, communications, and quality initiatives.
• Recruit, hire, coach, and manage staff per UNC Health policies; foster staff engagement and development.
• Lead department goals in alignment with organizational strategy; drive improvement in performance metrics.
• Maintain relationships with key customers and internal teams; monitor performance using LEAN approaches.
• Ensure compliance with accreditation standards and regulatory requirements.
• Assist in budget development, revenue strategies, and cost control to meet targets.

Skills

Nursing leadership

Education program design

Accreditation knowledge

Quality improvement

Lean methodology

Executive communication

Education

MSN or related field

BSN and MSN combination or related

Tools

UNC Health systems

Job description

Description

Your passion belongs at UNC Health. Join more than 56,000 teammates working together to improve the health and well-being of the communities we serve across North Carolina.

This position will be onsite at UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill, NC.

The ideal candidate will have a strong foundation in nursing education or nursing professional development. The individual hired into this role will be leading a team that is firmly rooted in nursing practice and professional development that ranges in overseeing teaching methodologies to competency based education, orientation, and regulatory accreditation and expectations.

Summary:

Responsible for assisting the Director of the Center for Nursing Excellence for UNC Hospitals through daily and long term oversight of department activities. Provides management direction to nursing practice and professional development leaders and team members. Assist the Director in ensuring the successful attainment of department goals and objectives. Accountable for departmental personnel management, fiscal management, communications, customer service, and quality/ process improvement initiatives to attain high level of quality outcomes consistent with organizational standards. Reports to the Director - Center for Nursing Excellence.

Responsibilities:

• 1.Nursing Practice - Assists with the direction of planning, designing, coordinating, and evaluation of educational and professional practice initiatives for the Nursing Department (in collaboration with nursing leadership and shared governance councils). Ensures that all components of nursing education are consistent with quality standards and benchmarks. Facilitates all residency programs and ensures that residency programs address strategic priorities of UNC Hospitals and prepare candidates to make an effective transition to their primary role.
• 2.Nursing Practice & Policies - Ensures nursing practice and policies are in accordance with accreditation requirements. Collaborates with quality leaders to meet educational demands that address knowledge deficits leading to sentinel events or patient safety concerns.
• 3.Professional Development Maintains familiarity with standards of appropriate discipline/professional work group. Seeks opportunities for professional growth. Attends required orientation prior to initiation of new systems. Participates in appropriate educational opportunities.
• 4. Human Resource Management: Effectively recruits, selects, hires, coaches, and uses appropriate corrective actions with staff in accordance with UNCHCS policies and procedures. Creates an environment conducive to retaining staff. Provides input to Director regarding staff annual performance feedback and the opportunity to set developmental goals. Participates in and leads as needed regularly recurring staff meetings at which pertinent information such as policy and procedure changes are communicated. Encourages staff to celebrate successes, express concerns and identity opportunities for improvements. Implements strategies to improve employee satisfaction inclusive of strategies to involve employees in decision making.
• 5. Leadership: Collaborates with Director to establish goals for the department that are congruent with hospital goals. Reviews overall department performance to ensure staff are meeting or exceeding target outcome goals. Leads in change efforts for improvement in work quality. Aligns work unit goals with organizational strategic direction. Demonstrates corporate citizenship by participating in activities external to assigned work unit/departments. Demonstrates active support of organizational initiatives. Accesses and utilizes appropriate administrative/clinical/financial systems. Acquires and maintains quantitative skills for data analysis. Creates an educational environment conducive to learning.
• 6. Communication: Identifies key customers and needs. Develops and maintains positive, effective relationships with key individuals and team both internally and externally. Monitors unit(s) performance and ensures scores are showing improvement using LEAN methodology. Maintains accountability for annual competency assessment of staff. Works with Director to ensure a high level of patient and customer satisfaction.
• 7. Quality and Regulatory/Accreditation Issues: Maintains familiarity with applicable rules, regulations, and accreditation issues, including Magnet related activities. Ensures work unit is in compliance with applicable accreditation issues. Participates in activities designed to monitor and improve compliance.
• 8. Financial Stewardship: Works with Director to develop and submit budgetary requests on or before stated deadlines for UNC Hospitals cost centers; assists in monitoring and analyzing budgetary trends. Implements strategies to increase revenue/decrease costs and cost-effectively manage personnel, supply and equipment resources. Makes necessary adjustments to ensure goals are achieved and/or meet budget projections. Recognizes opportunities for increases in productivity, cost savings, and revenue generation.

Other Information:

Education Requirements:

• Master's degree in Nursing or related field; Applicant must have a Bachelor's and Master's Degree, at least one of which is in Nursing (if BSN is held degree, Master's in Education, Nursing, or other applicable field required).

Licensure/Certification Requirements:

• Registered Licensed as a Registered Nurse in the State of North Carolina; Certification in area of specialty preferred; must obtain certification in administrative or specialty area within one year of hire.

Professional Experience Requirements:

• Requires a minimum of five (5) years' experience in nursing. Demonstrated progressive experience in nursing management with a minimum of two (2) years in leadership role required; one (1) year clinical or management experience.
• Previous experience in an academic medical center and/ or health care system preferred.

Knowledge/Skills/and Abilities Requirements:

• Understands and applies principles, procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to specialized expertise.
• Proven track record of effective management of health care staff in an acute care setting. Strong written and verbal communication skills. Basic computer skills in word processing and spreadsheet programs.

Job Details:

Legal Employer: STATE

Entity: UNC Medical Center

Organization Unit: Center of Nursing Excellence

Work Type: Full Time

Standard Hours Per Week: 40.00

Salary Range:$51.50 - $74.01 per hour (Hiring Range)

Pay offers are determined by experience and internal equity

Work Assignment Type: Onsite

Work Schedule: Day Job

Location of Job: US:NC:Chapel Hill

Exempt From Overtime: Exempt: Yes

This is a State position employed by UNC Health Care System with UNC Health benefits. If, however, you are presently an employee of another North Carolina agency and currently participate in TSERS or the ORP, you will be eligible to continue participating in those plans at UNC Health.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran or political affiliation.

UNC Health makes reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as applicants and employees with disabilities. All interested applicants are invited to apply for career opportunities. Please email [e-mail] if you need a reasonable accommodation to search and/or to apply for a career opportunity.