Nursing Services Director

State of Iowa; Fort Dodge (IA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The State of Iowa seeks a nursing leader to supervise and evaluate staff, ensure continuous 24/7 nursing coverage, and advance health services operations. You will manage staffing, compliance, and performance processes across institutions.

Responsibilities include developing procedures, coordinating with interdisciplinary teams, and overseeing quality assurance measures. A strong health services background and EHR familiarity are required.

Qualifications

• Must have nursing leadership experience supervising staff.
• Experience with health services in a correctional or institutional setting is a plus.
• Strong knowledge of staffing, scheduling, and performance evaluations.

Responsibilities

• Supervises and evaluates the work of subordinate staff to ensure 24-hour coverage.
• Oversees nursing workforce planning, including recruitment, retention, succession planning, and labor relations coordination.
• Leads development and revision of Health Services procedures.
• Represents Health Services in committees and management meetings.
• Ensures compliance with nursing and medical standards and regulatory requirements.
• Supports implementation of the EHR system.

Skills

Nursing leadership

Staff development

Quality assurance

Budgeting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Nursing

Master's Degree in Nursing

Tools

Electronic Health Record (EHR)

Job description

Supervises and evaluates the work of subordinate staff to ensure 24-hour coverage.

• A. Effectively recommends personnel actions including hiring, corrective/disciplinary measures, performance evaluations, work schedules, and duty assignments.
• B. Administers personnel management and enforces departmental policies and procedures. Maintains accurate timekeeping, payroll, and leave records.
• C. Oversees the delivery of Health Services to ensure high-quality, timely, and appropriate care provided to incarcerated individuals.
• D. Establishes and maintains guidelines for staffing within the health care agency to assure adequate nursing coverage for all client areas. Maintains a nursing schedule to cover the institution 24 hours a day, 7 days a week across all shifts, holidays, and weekends.
• E. Ensures annual performance evaluations are completed for all health services staff are completed in a timely and objective manner.
• F. Oversee nursing workforce planning, including recruitment, retention, succession planning, and labor relations coordination.

Program and policy oversight and development

• A. Leads the development, implementation, and ongoing revision of institutional Health Services Procedure Manual.
• B. Schedules, facilitates, and documents monthly nursing meetings; ensures meeting minutes are accurately completed and distributed.
• C. Represents the nursing department in interdisciplinary meetings; communicates nursing needs and concerns to other departments and administration.
• D. Proactively identifies, defines, and resolves barriers to care delivery to improve access and health outcomes.
• F. Promotes compliance with nursing and medical standards, mission, goals, and regulatory/accreditation requirements.
• F. Evaluates cost-efficiency of services and resources while ensuring high-quality care is maintained.
• G. Collaborate with medical, mental health, pharmacy, security, and administrative teams to coordinate care and ensure continuity of services.

Participates and represents Health Services in assigned committees.

• A. Administers special health programs such as infection prevention and control, nursing staff development, quality assurance, and utilization review.
• B. Represents Health Services in institutional executive and management meetings, providing updates and data on healthcare operations.
• C. Compiles and presents quarterly QA reports with analysis and recommendations for improvements in care delivery.
• D. Serves as an active member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee.
• E. Participates in institutional leadership and team management meetings to represent the Health Services Unit.
• F. Attend and actively contribute to quarterly Nurse Manager meetings to support communication, alignment on departmental goals, and continuous quality improvement efforts.
• G. Participate in weekly Medical Admissions calls and Mental Health Utilization Review meetings to ensure timely coordination of care, appropriate placement decisions, and effective resource utilization.
• H. Monitor clinical quality metrics and lead quality improvement throughout Health Services Department.
• I. Serve as the nursing lead for incident reviews, death reviews, and sentinel even investigations.

Technology and Data

• A. Support implementation and optimization of the Electronic Health Record (HER) system, including access control, documentation standards, and user training.

Public Health and Emergency Preparedness

• A. Lead nursing components of outbreak response planning, including vaccination strategies, screening protocols, and infection control drills.
• B. Participate in emergency response coordination as a nursing system leader.

E-Verify and Right to Work

The State of Iowa participates in E-Verify, a federal program that helps employers confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. Within the required timeframe, new hires will be verified through the E-Verify system to ensure authorization to work in the United States. The State of Iowa also complies with the federal Right to Work laws, which protect employees’ rights to work without being required to join a labor organization. For more information, please visit www.e-verify.gov.

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing and experience equal to three years of full-time supervisory/management nursing experience; OR graduation from an accredited college or university with a Master's Degree in Nursing and experience equal to one year of full-time supervisory/management nursing experience; OR an equivalent combination of the required education and experience, substituting one year of experience for thirty semester hours or equivalent of education; no substitution for three years of full-time supervisory/management nursing experience.

NOTE: Please include your State of Iowa or Compact State License Number when submitting your application Compact license holders are required to obtain an Iowa license within 60 days.