VP of Inpatient Services

Children's National Medical Center; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 150,000 - 450,000; Full time

Job summary

Children's National Hospital is seeking a Vice President of Inpatient Services to lead the inpatient nursing division. You will oversee clinical operations, quality, patient safety, and regulatory readiness across acute care, critical care, and specialty programs, while partnering with executives to drive strategic growth and high-reliability care.

You will manage budgets, workforce planning, and performance metrics, while fostering collaboration among nurses, physicians, and interdisciplinary

Qualifications

• 15 years of nursing experience including at least 7 years in leadership.
• 5 years of progressive responsibility in nursing leadership.
• Experience leading complex inpatient nursing, pediatric settings, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Proven success managing budgets, quality outcomes, workforce engagement.
• Pediatric hospital experience strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the Nursing strategic vision and enterprise priorities.
• Lead capacity management, discharge readiness, and patient flow.
• Represent inpatient nursing in executive forums and partnerships.
• Drive high reliability, quality and safety across inpatient services.
• Collaborate with physicians, operations, and academia to advance pediatric care.

Skills

Pediatric inpatient nursing

Executive leadership

Budget management

Quality and safety

Change management

Staff development

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder engagement

Communication skills

Education

Master's Degree

BSN

Doctoral degree (DNP/PhD/etc.)

Tools

Magnet framework knowledge

Shared governance models

Job description

Kids Are Our Everything.

Department

10290 Hospital - CNO Nursing & Patie

Pay Range

$150,000.00 - $450,000.00

Reporting to the Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, the Vice President of Inpatient Services is responsible for overall operations within the inpatient division of nursing, including planning, directing, implementing, and evaluating programs and services. The VP of Inpatient Services oversees nursing quality, regulatory, patient safety, fiscal, operational performance, and clinical outcomes within the inpatient departments as delegated by the CNO. Additional responsibilities include participating in planning and decision-making at various hospital levels and representing inpatient nursing on hospital external committees and task forces as needed.

As a member of the Nursing Executive Leadership Team, the VP of Inpatient Services collaborates with providers, quality and safety leaders, finance, human resources, and interdisciplinary teams to advance high-reliability care, operational discipline, workforce engagement, patient and family experience, regulatory readiness, and measurable clinical outcomes.

Minimum Education -

• Master's Degree (Required)
• BSN (Required)
• Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), PhD, DHA, EdD, or other doctoral degree (Preferred)

Minimum Work Experience

• 15 years Nursing experience to include at least 7 years of clinical experience (Required)
• 5 years of progressive responsibility in nursing leadership positions (Required)
• Demonstrated executive experience leading complex inpatient nursing and patient care services in a pediatric hospital, academic medical center, or comparable quaternary healthcare environment, including daily operations, acute care, critical care, specialty programs, staffing systems, capacity management, care coordination, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Proven success managing budgets, quality outcomes, workforce engagement, and change initiatives.
• Experience in a children's hospital, pediatric service line, or academic pediatric healthcare setting is strongly preferred.

Required Skills/Knowledge -

• Advanced knowledge of pediatric inpatient nursing practice, patient care services, family-centered care, developmentally appropriate care, complex acute and critical care operations, care model redesign, case management, utilization management, discharge planning, care coordination, patient throughput, and safe transitions of care.
• Demonstrated expertise leading inpatient operations across complex pediatric settings, including clinical workflows, staffing models, workforce productivity, capacity management, surge planning, patient progression, and performance improvement.
• Strong knowledge of professional nursing practice standards, Magnet recognition principles, shared governance, flexible staffing models, evidence-based practice, nursing research, leadership development, regulatory and accreditation requirements, high reliability, health equity, and pediatric quality and safety frameworks.
• Proven ability to establish and monitor quality, safety, experience, workforce, operational, and financial performance metrics to drive measurable outcomes.
• Executive-level understanding of healthcare finance, operating and capital budgets, workforce planning, productivity management, strategic resource allocation, business planning, and value-based care.
• Ability to develop and execute long-term inpatient services strategies aligned with enterprise priorities, clinical service line growth, academic missions, nursing excellence, care transformation, operational performance, and national pediatric benchmarks.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale change, innovation, standardization, and transformation initiatives across complex healthcare environments.
• Exceptional executive communication, presentation, negotiation, and influencing skills with the ability to engage senior leaders, physicians, boards, staff, patients, families, and community stakeholders.
• Strong relationship-building skills with demonstrated success partnering across nursing, physician, operational, academic, community, and administrative teams.
• Skilled in collaboration, conflict resolution, consensus-building, stakeholder alignment, and leading interdisciplinary teams toward shared goals.
• Proven ability to foster an engaged, accountable, inclusive, and high-performing workforce through leadership development, mentorship, succession planning, and professional growth.
• Strong business acumen, systems thinking, strategic judgment, and ability to balance clinical excellence, operational efficiency, financial stewardship, and patient and family experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to represent inpatient services internally and externally at the executive, community, regional, and national levels.

Required Licenses and Certifications -

• Current Registered Nurse unencumbered licensure as a registered nurse in District of Columbia (Required)
• Current Registered Nurse, unencumbered compact state licensure as a registered nurse as applicable (MD, VA) (Required) Board-certified as a nurse executive Upon Hire (Required)
• Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) (Required)
• Nurse executive certification required within established organizational timeframe if not held upon hire; pediatric, critical care, or specialty nursing certification preferred.

Functional Accountabilities:

Strategic Leadership

• Assist with the development and execution of the Nursing strategic vision, strategic plan, and enterprise priorities for Inpatient Services across acute care, service lines, and specialty programs.
• Champion enterprise-wide initiatives that elevate operational performance, care model effectiveness, nursing excellence, capacity optimization, discharge readiness, quality, safety, patient and family experience, workforce engagement, and sustainable growth for inpatient services.
• Forge strategic partnerships with executives, physicians, operational, clinical, academic, and interdisciplinary leaders to accelerate integrated inpatient care, pediatric service expansion, and transformative nursing practice.
• Leverage national pediatric benchmarks, Magnet standards, operational intelligence, nursing research, clinical outcomes, and emerging healthcare trends to shape the future of inpatient nursing practice and patient care delivery.
• Represent inpatient services in enterprise planning, hospital governance, clinical transformation, service line development, capacity management, and executive decision-making forums.
• Care delivery, patient flow, safety, experience, and organizational performance.

Workforce Strategy, Optimization and Transformation

• Plan and execute the strategic direction for Inpatient Services, aligning workforce, care delivery, capacity, quality, and service growth with Children's National's mission and enterprise priorities.
• Optimize inpatient nursing models, staffing, patient flow, care progression, discharge planning, and coordination to improve outcomes and operational performance.
• Translate strategy into measurable priorities while advancing workforce engagement, retention, leadership accountability, succession planning, and professional growth.
• Lead organizational transformation by integrating service lines, future-state models, innovation, technology, equity, and continuous learning.

Enterprise Clinical Excellence & Professional Nursing Practice

• Provide executive oversight for professional nursing practice across Inpatient Services to drive clinical excellence and professional nursing practice.
• Advance evidence-based pediatric nursing care models, interprofessional practice, and care delivery redesign that improve clinical outcomes, operational reliability, patient progression, equity, and patient and family experience.
• Lead inpatient nursing quality, patient safety, infection prevention, accreditation readiness, regulatory compliance, professional practice standards, high-reliability practices, and risk reduction strategies.
• Promote continuous improvement, innovation, research, and evidence-based practice throughout inpatient nursing.
• Champion Magnet principles, shared governance, nursing excellence, professional development, staff engagement, leadership accountability, and a healthy work environment across inpatient nursing teams.
• Establish and monitor metrics for safety, quality, patient outcomes, patient flow, utilization, efficiency, equity, workforce engagement, financial stewardship, and patient and family experience.

Financial Stewardship

• Maintain executive accountability for inpatient services operating and capital budgets, workforce planning, productivity, staffing resources, strategic investments, and responsible financial stewardship in alignment with enterprise performance expectations.
• Monitor financial, operational, quality, and workforce indicators to support enterprise goals and sustainable performance.
• Develop strategies that improve efficiency, productivity, care quality, capacity utilization, patient flow, and value across inpatient services.
• Identify opportunities for sustainable growth, operational improvement, and responsible financial stewardship.

Executive Communications and Strategic Engagement

• Provide executive oversight for Inpatient Services communications, brand strategy, social media, executive messaging, annual reports, recognition strategy, and partnerships with Marketing & Communications.
• Cultivate executive, clinical, operational, academic, community, and family partnerships to align priorities, strengthen collaboration, and accelerate organizational transformation.
• Develop communication governance, engagement strategies, and feedback systems that advance transparency, alignment, accountability, and trust across the organization.
• Develop executive expectations for quality, safety, evidence-based practice, and regulatory communication to guide directors, managers, and frontline teams.
• Represent Children's National and inpatient nursing in executive forums, professional organizations, and regional and national healthcare partnerships.

Nursing Quality Outcomes & Effectiveness

• Collaborate with peers and colleagues to define inpatient nursing KPIs and monitor the effectiveness of quality outcome measures related to safety, access, clinical effectiveness, patient experience, workforce engagement, and operational performance.
• Use dashboards, analytics, benchmarking, and performance reviews to evaluate outcomes and identify improvement opportunities in the focus areas of quality, safety, patient experience and care coordination.
• Advance nursing-sensitive indicators and outcome measures that reflect excellence in pediatric Inpatient Services.

Executive Representation & External Relations

• Forge and steward strategic partnerships with physicians, operational executives, clinical leaders, advanced practice providers, academic institutions, community organizations, and external stakeholders to advance Inpatient Service nursing priorities.
• Serve as a visible executive ambassador for Children's National Hospital and the nursing profession in regional, national, and professional forums.
• Influence the advancement of inpatient nursing practice, healthcare policy, and professional standards through active executive engagement in professional organizations and healthcare forums.
• Champion interdisciplinary and external collaboration strengthens pediatric outcomes, expands access to care, advances community partnerships, and improves organizational performance.

The disclosed salary range includes the minimum and maximum rates within which Children's National believes an individual's base pay rate will fall for this position. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the maximum of the pay range. The exact pay rate for this position will be based on a variety of factors in alignment with the Children's National compensation philosophy. These factors are legitimate and non-discriminatory including, but not limited to, the current market conditions; organizational needs; the individual's combination of prior work experience, level of education, knowledge, skills, and other qualifications. Children's National is committed to providing a fair and competitive total rewards package to each of our employees. This base salary range does not include our comprehensive benefits package or any additional compensation for which this position may be eligible.

Childrens National Hospital is an equal opportunity employer that evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, identity, or other characteristics protected by law. The "Know Your Rights" poster is available here: and the pay transparency policy is available here:Know Your RightsPay Transparency Nondiscrimination Poster.

Please note that it is the policy of Children’s National Hospital to ensure a "drug-free" work environment: a workplace free from the illegal use, possession or distribution of controlled substances (as defined in the Controlled Substances Act), or other legal substances, by all staff (management, employees and contractors). Though recreational and medical marijuana are now legal in the District of Columbia, Children's National and its affiliates maintain the right, in accordance with our policy, to enforce a drug-free workplace, including prohibiting recreational or prescribed marijuana.