Days, Full-time

Location: Remote with the need to come on-site to Des Moines, IA occasionally.

The Director, Nursing Workforce Optimization redesigns staffing/scheduling structure and processes with leadership to support new care delivery models, that improve efficiency, effectiveness, operations, and outcomes. Collaborates on the process for establishing financial, workload, and other targets that guide projection of staffing budgets. Responsible for providing clinical and operational direction and leadership for effective management of nurse scheduling system and staffing resources System wide. Is responsible for effective operation, oversight, establishing and managing the UnityPoint Health (UPH) System and Market float pools and serves as liaison with external staffing vendors. This role works closely with the System Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) to develop, implement, and maintain strategic staffing initiatives for nursing workforce utilization. This role will monitor and trend nursing workforce metrics to for efficient management and utilization of nursing staffing resources. This includes designing the service and workflows, hiring personnel, onboarding team members, scheduling and assigning team members, individual team performance, and program outcomes monitoring. The Director works under the guidance of the SVP/Chief Nursing Officer in partnership with local market leadership and develops and leads a team of high-performing managers and supervisors. This position assumes responsibility for the implementation of new programs, identifying opportunities for growth, guiding the development of patient-centered services, and ensuring meeting the standards in quality per accreditation or other governing bodies. In addition, this leader will oversee the development, deployment, and utilization of nursing decisional support tools across the enterprise to ensure cost-effective staffing and scheduling practices. The incumbent in the role will be expected to partner with analytics and IT to establish executive-level dashboards and predictive analytics that provide the Market CNOs with actionable information.

At UnityPoint Health, you matter. We’re proud to be recognized as a Top 150 Place to Work in Healthcare by Becker's Healthcare several years in a row for our commitment to our team members.  

Our competitive Total Rewards program offers benefits options that align with your needs and priorities, no matter what life stage you’re in.  Here are just a few:      

• Expect paid time off, parental leave, 401K matching and an employee recognition program.   

• Dental and health insurance, paid holidays, short and long-term disability and more. We even offer pet insurance for your four-legged family members.  

• Early access to earned wages with Daily Pay, tuition reimbursement to help further your career and adoption assistance to help you grow your family.   

With a collective goal to champion a culture of belonging where everyone feels valued and respected, we honor the ways people are unique and embrace what brings us together.   

And, we believe equipping you with support and development opportunities is a vital part of delivering an exceptional employment experience. 

Find a fulfilling career and make a difference with UnityPoint Health.

Strategic Leadership

• Serves as the key business leader, is seen as the subject matter expert, and is responsible for the development of partnerships and purposeful connections with team members, leaders, other departments, and external partners.
• Develops and implements specific operational goals annually to support the UPH strategic plan and in concert with the overall System plan for the System and Market resource pool.
• Works across markets to identify and leverage resources, best practices, and standardization to synthesize and integrate divergent viewpoints for the good of the organization.
• Provides visionary thinking to create a resource pool that attracts talents and exceeds customer expectations.
• Seeks external perspective through professional organizations, contacts and education.
  • Partners with CNOs, Analytics and IT to create actionable decisional support tools that lead to efficient resource management. Examples include real-time daily productivity tools and bi-weekly/monthly executive outcome reports.
  • Establishes job descriptions for team members and workflows for requesting and assigning resources.
  • Serves as a change agent, assisting others in understanding the importance, necessity, impact, and process of change.
  • Builds trusting, collaborative relationships with staff, peers, and administration to advance the core service and continually creating additive value.
  • Communicates a shared vision regarding the strategic goal of strengthening the core.
  • Builds credibility with CNOs as a champion for patient care, quality, and professional practice
  • Collaborates with nursing leadership to implement evidence-based practice and process improvement
  • Builds partnerships that support and promote care coordination and case management strategies

Operational and Fiscal Accountability

• Leads customer service and quality initiatives; evaluates outcomes and data to continuously improve operational processes, procedures & systems; integrates appropriate technology.
• Establishes efficient, ongoing training and development programs ensuring compliance with regulatory/accreditation, and meeting quality, and safety.
• Ensures processes align with Governing bodies and National Association accreditation standards.
• Demonstrates the knowledge that patient and workplace safety is a priority by preventing errors, accidents and infections and reporting potential or actual concerns immediately.
• Identification, investigation, and escalation of opportunities to improve in Quality Assurance via department key process indicators, event reporting trends and huddle discussion opportunities.
• Creates, advises, reviews and/or monitors metrics, data and trends for the organization related to the assigned markets.
• Develops annual operational budget to support strategic plan.
• Executes the established plan through measurement, monitoring, and analysis of resource utilization and adjusting direction when needed.
• Collaborates with SVP/System Chief Nursing Officer to support program/practice changes to continually improve resource utilization.
• Educates team members on financial implications of scheduling practices and decisions.
• Ensures compliance with the state Nurse Practice Act, state Board of Nursing regulations, and regulatory agencies’ standards.

Leadership

• Leads team through influence and presence by making purposeful connections, motivating, mentoring, coaching, and providing guidance to the team to deliver high-quality, cost-effective services.
• Facilites the ongoing learning, well-being professional satisfaction and development of the team through training, work assignments, increased responsibilities, mentoring, and the performance evaluation process.
• Establishes a process for customer feedback in annual performance appraisal process.
• Provides direction, supervision, and support to team members. Delegates accountability and responsibility appropriately to leadership team.
• Ensures effective recruitment, selection, supervision and retention of direct reports and departments reporting to Director
• Identifies a process for early identification of high potential individuals for future leadership assignments/roles.
• Serves as the key leader and role model; balances team and individual responsibilities; performs all duties of a director.

Education:

• Master's Degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration or Business Administration required

Experience: 

• 7 years of progressive leadership experience 
• Nurse staffing and scheduling experience

Licenses and Certifications: 

• Licensed Registered Nurse preferred

• Cerfications in Nursing and/or Healthcare Leadership preferred

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities: 

• Advanced understanding of budget and unit costs.
• Ability to lead and manage matrixed organization.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

• Comprehenisve knowledge of accreditation requirements, state and federal regulatory and

  professional standards.

• Knowledge of and experience with Microsoft Office products.

• Strong leadership skills including professionalism, interpersonal skills, ability to communicate and negotiate effectively through written and verbal methods with varied audiences.

• Ability to take initiatives, exercise independent judegment with strong decision making, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to travel to all markets.

What are team member vaccine requirements?   

As part of keeping our communities safe and healthy, all team members must be vaccinated for influenza and Tdap, provide proof of immunity to MMR and varicella, and be tested for tuberculosis.  New hires must submit proof of vaccination or an approved exemption to begin work. If you have questions, please contact a recruiter or ask at any time during the interview process. UPH strongly recommends that all team members receive the updated COVID-19 vaccine, and at this time, UnityPoint Health – Meriter requires Covid-19 vaccination or an approved exemption.

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