The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), Community Hospital is responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership for all aspects related to direct patient care/nursing activities including, but not limited to, the following: safety, service, clinical excellence, nursing practice, and nursing education and development and operational responsibilities for non-patient care areas if assigned, of the community hospital. The CNO is accountable to ensure patient care services and nursing practice maintains compliance with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and DNV/The Joint Commission requirements.
The CNO collaborates with other CNOs and ACNOs within the VCU Health System to ensure that excellence in clinical care, education, research, and community outreach is promoted and achieved across the health system, and nursing practice remains within the boundaries of the governing regulations in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The CNO also ensures practice is guided by the ANA Code of Ethics for Nursing and established national nursing practice standards, as well as VCU Health System policies and procedures. The CNO coordinates activities and organizational initiatives that enable VCU Health System to be recognized within the healthcare community for excellence in nursing by either the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program or Pathway to Excellence Program.
The CNO has the responsibility to ensure that patient care services, primarily related to nursing, delivered at community hospital are focused on enhancing the patient experience. This executive finds a balance in managing the day-to-day operations, while leading strategic development initiatives required for the hospital's long-term success by creating an environment of collaboration and engaged providers. Additionally, this individual effectively manages the financial forecast for Nursing at the community hospital, while being a responsible steward of resources in alignment with the VCU Health System financial goals.
This executive leader partners and collaborates with other VCU Health System leaders in the strategic development and operational execution of clinical service excellence and human capital strategy to safeguard the position of community hospital and VCU Health System as a regional leading provider of clinical services. The CNO interfaces effectively with VCU partners as needed to ensure safe, timely, and efficient care of patients across the care continuum. In addition, this individual fosters a collaborative relationship with VCU School of Nursing and other community nursing schools within the region to support the educational mission of the health system and a pipeline for growth of VCU Health System nursing services.
Essential Job Statements Performance Expectation: Safety
Commitment to be a collaborative leader in safety/quality, affordability and impact, and the desire to be the trusted and preferred provider for our community and beyond. Must consistently demonstrate the values and behaviors that enhance and align with the VCU Health System and reflect the commitments and philosophy of the organization. Demonstrate personal ownership and accountability for safety across the community hospital by role modeling daily key concepts of a high reliability organization as personal work habits. Promote safe behavior use by all; take actions to ensure all team members apply the safe behaviors to their everyday work and adopt as their personal work habits. Establish an environment in which it is both encouraged and expected that team members speak up for safety, quality, and service, and will support the team in speaking up. Proactively find problems and take actions to fix system causes based on root cause analysis. Encourage reporting of events and near misses. Facilitate timely evaluation of safety events involving department or team members and implements planned corrective actions. Responsible for overall workspace environment, to include compliance with evacuation plans, emergency preparedness plan, etc. Demonstrate alignment with Safety First, the core value underlying our safety net mission and dedication to be the safest hospital. On-going evaluation of care and services to improve outcomes and the patient experience and engage new business; and ensuring the health and safety of patients, visitors, faculty, learners, and care teams.
Performance Expectation: Budget
Manage the medical center nursing and patient care services financial forecast and other financial measures effectively in alignment with health system financial goals. Responsible for managing the monthly nursing and patient care services variance reporting or any other financial requirement for the overall fiscal stewardship at the medical center. Leverage data analytics to identify return on investment and other indicators for nursing and patient care services' business efficiency and resource utilization.
Performance Expectation: Operational Excellence
Collaborate with other areas to maintain a contemporary knowledge of urban teaching hospital and community hospital approach, lean process improvement, safety and quality developments, cost of care and industry trends. Identify and articulate the vision and direction for nursing and patient care services and collaborate on the implementation of strategies to achieve them. Promote continuity, consistency, and standardization, to the extent possible, of nursing and patient care services care across the organization. Set the tone for partnerships across all departments to keep patients and families as the focal point for all decisions. Be innovative and collaborative in approaches to solutions across the business unit in fulfilment of the VCUHS mission. Recruit and retain top talent and partner in recruitment efforts to ensure a diverse, respectful, and inclusive culture. Demonstrate an understanding of VCUHS mission/vision/values and goals in all areas of responsibility, abide by and monitor team members or adherence to policies.
Performance Expectation: Performance Expectation: Visibility (Strategy)
Develop and provide key performance indicators (KPIs) to establish the appropriate framework for nursing and patient care services metrics to align with overall organizational strategy. Evaluate and advise on the impact of long-range planning of new nursing programs/strategies and regulatory action, as those items affect the community hospital (business unit) and consequently VCUHS. Work collaboratively with nursing leadership across business entities to ensure policies, procedures, strategy, and program are aligned.
Performance Expectation: Performance Expectation: Performance Improvement/Benchmarking
Routinely evaluate, modify, and recommend process improvement based on review and audit. Drive continuous improvement to ensure value-based initiatives are effectively designed, documented, implemented, and communicated to department and internal/external business partners. Consistently measure success through KPIs and business metrics. Continuously seek ways to streamline and improve performance, proactively identifying and initiating process improvement tasks. Contribute new ideas to the team to challenge the "status quo". Serve as a change agent and champions change management activities for value-based functions with frequent communications to improve outcomes and course correct as needed
Performance Expectation: Organizational Teamwork
Plan, develop, organize, implement, direct, and evaluate the performance of the patient care teams to ensure alignment with VCUHS mission, values and vision. Collaborate with cross-functional teams and other leaders to provide tactics, ideas and reasoning for behavior changes, readiness, and team member/patient experience. Communicate effectively, demonstrate good interpersonal relationships, and display behavior that is consistently professional, caring, and courteous.
Performance Expectation: Compliance
Be aware of nursing regulatory and business impacts and partner with leaders on ways to proactively address challenges and potential operational issues. Enforce all rules and regulations in the conduct of routine business related to nursing. Provide general oversight of all community hospital nursing and patient care services activities, manage the day-to-day nursing and patient care services operations and assure a safe and efficient work environment. Ensure nursing practice remains within the boundaries of the governing regulations in the Commonwealth of Virginia and practice is guided by the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nursing and established national nursing practice standards, as well as VCU Health System policies and procedures.
Performance Expectation: External Effectiveness
Develop, nurture, and maintain community relations, and participate actively and visibly in the community. Actively participate in relevant board and committee meetings. Keep abreast of trends, market issues and best practices in the nursing market. Establish collaborative relationships with the VCU School of Nursing and other nursing schools to develop programs and experiences to attract the highest quality student and graduate nurses to the organization as part of an assertive recruitment plan
Performance Expectation: Miscellaneous Responsibilities
Perform other duties as assigned and/or participates in special projects to support the mission of VCUHS. Responsible for leading select nursing initiatives across the VCUHS enterprise Support and coach team members.
Patient Population Demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to provide equitable care appropriate to the age of the patients served on their assigned unit.
Demonstrates knowledge and related competencies of the principles of growth and development of the life span and possesses the ability to assess data reflective of the patient's status and interprets the appropriate information needed to identify each patient's requirements relative to their age, specific needs and to provide the equitable care needed as described in departmental policies and procedures. Neonates (0-4 weeks) Infant (1-12 months) Pediatrics (1-12 years) Adolescents (13-17 years) Adults (18-64 years). Geriatrics (65 years and older) Employment Qualifications Education Qualifications Required Education: Bachelor's degree in Nursing
Master's degree from an accredited college or university in Nursing, Health Care Administration, Business Administration, Public Health Administration, or related field. Preferred Education:
DNP or PhD preferred
Licensure/Certification Required: Current Registered Nurse licensure in Virginia or eligible
AHA BLS Certification or equivalent Licensure/Certification Preferred: Specialty certification in Executive Nursing Practice or Healthcare Administration preferred Minimum Qualifications Years and Type of Required Experience 10 years of progressive nursing leadership experience Years and Type of Preferred Experience: 12 years of related nursing leadership experience including 5+ years in leadership role with significant business impact Other Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required: Must be willing and able to work evenings, weekends and holidays as role necessitates including Administration Call
Must be willing to commute to entities across VCUHS Working Conditions Periods of high stress and fluctuating workloads may occur.
General office environment.
May be exposed to physical altercations and verbal abuse. Required to car travel to off-site locations, occasionally in adverse weather conditions. Long-distance or air travel as needed- not to exceed 10% travel. May be exposed to limited hazardous substances or body fluids. * May be exposed to human blood and other potentially infectious materials. *
May have periods of constant interruptions. * Individuals in this position are required to exercise universal precautions, use personal protective equipment and devices, and learn the policies concerning infection control. Physical Requirements Physical Demands: Lifting/ Carrying (0-50 lbs.), Lifting/ Carrying (50-100 lbs.), Lifting/ Carrying (100+ lbs.), Push/ Pull (0-50 lbs.), Push/ Pull (50-100 lbs.), Stoop, Kneel, Squat, Balance, Bending Work Position: Sitting, Walking, Standing Additional Physical Requirements/ Hazards Physical Requirements: Manual dexterity (eye/hand coordination), Perform Shift Work, Maneuver weight of patients, Hear alarms/telephone/tape recorder, Reach above shoulder, Repetitive arm/hand movements, Finger Dexterity, Color Vision, Acuity - near, Acuity - far Hazards: Depth perception, Use of Latex Gloves, Exposure to toxic/caustic/chemicals/detergents, Exposure to x ray/electromagnetic energy Mental/Sensory -Emotional Mental / Sensory: Strong Recall, Reasoning, Problem Solving, Hearing, Speak Clearly, Write Legibly, Reading, Logical Thinking Emotional: Fast-paced environment, Steady Pace, Able to Handle Multiple Priorities, Frequent and Intense Customer Interactions, Able to Adapt to Frequent Change
EEO Employer/Disabled/Protected Veteran/41 CFR 60-1.4.
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Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems
Feb 10, 2026