Nursing Dir, Perioperative Servies

Job Summary:
The System Nursing Director, Perioperative Services provides strategic and operational leadership for all perioperative service lines, including the Operating Room, Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU), Endoscopy, and Pre-Surgical Testing (PST), across the health system. This role is accountable for aligning clinical operations with organizational strategy, driving operating room (OR) optimization, and ensuring safe, efficient, and patient-centered surgical services. The Director oversees budget development and management, staffing and scheduling, regulatory and accreditation readiness, and the cultivation of interprofessional relationships with surgeons, anesthesia providers, and hospital leadership. The role reflects the functional competencies described in the American Organization for Nursing Leadership's (AONL) Nurse Executive Competencies, spanning business skills and principles, communication and relationship building, knowledge of the health care environment, professionalism, and leadership (American Organization for Nursing Leadership [AONL], 2023).

Job Responsibilities:
-Develops and executes a multi-year strategic plan for perioperative services that aligns OR, PACU, Endoscopy, and PST capacity with system growth targets, service-line priorities, and surgeon recruitment plans.
-Leads system-wide OR optimization initiatives, including block schedule design, utilization analysis, and turnover-time reduction, using data-driven and evidence-based scheduling methods to reduce case delays and maximize room utilization.
-Evaluates and implements technology and workflow solutions (e.g., scheduling algorithms, predictive analytics, computerized case-tracking systems) shown to improve OR efficiency and reduce non-operative time.
-Partners with surgical leadership to establish and periodically reallocate block time based on utilization data and specialty growth.
-Identifies opportunities to expand outpatient and ambulatory surgical capacity, endoscopy throughput, and pre-surgical testing efficiency in support of system access goals.
-Provides day-to-day and long-range operational oversight of the OR, PACU, Endoscopy, and PST units, ensuring consistent, safe, and standardized clinical practice across all sites.
-Establishes and monitors key performance indicators (first-case on-time starts, turnover time, case cancellation rate, PACU length of stay, endoscopy throughput, and pre-surgical testing completion rates) and leads performance-improvement action plans.
-Ensures perioperative nursing practice reflects current Perioperative Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice and applicable AORN Guidelines for Perioperative Practice.
-Serves as an escalation point for complex operational, clinical, and interdepartmental issues across all perioperative sites.
-Develops, monitors, and manages the annual operating and capital budgets for all perioperative service lines, including labor, supply, and equipment costs.
-Analyzes volume, productivity, and cost-per-case data to identify variances and implement corrective action plans.
-Partners with finance and supply chain leadership on capital equipment planning, implant/instrument cost management, and vendor contract review.
-Prepares and presents financial and operational performance reports to executive leadership.
-Develops and maintains evidence-based staffing plans and productivity targets for the OR, PACU, Endoscopy, and PST that reflect patient acuity, case volume, and regulatory staffing requirements.
-Oversees recruitment, onboarding, competency validation, and retention strategies for perioperative nursing and support staff across the service line.
-Ensures on-call, weekend, and holiday coverage models meet surgical, endoscopy, and emergency case demand.
 

Required Skills & Experience:
-Minimum of ten (10) years of progressive nursing leadership experience, including experience leading multiple service lines or sites.
-Communication and relationship building, knowledge of the health care environment, professionalism, and leadership (AONL, 2023)
-Demonstrated ability to interpret operational and financial data to drive OR optimization and performance improvement.
-Strong interpersonal, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills for engaging physicians, staff, and executive leadership.
-Working knowledge of applicable regulatory, accreditation, and reimbursement requirements affecting perioperative services.

Preferred Skills & Experience:
-Direct clinical or leadership experience in perioperative services (OR, PACU, Endoscopy, or ambulatory surgery).
-Experience with OR block scheduling, capital and operating budget management, and multi-site or system-level leadership.

Responsibilities Cont'd:
-Reviews staffing and scheduling data regularly to address overtime, agency utilization, and turnover trends.
-Builds and sustains collaborative relationships with surgeons, anesthesiologists, CRNAs, sterile processing, hospital administration, and ancillary departments to support coordinated perioperative care.
-Chairs or co-chairs the OR Governance/Perioperative Executive Committee, facilitating shared decision-making on block time, scheduling policy, and service-line priorities.
-Represents perioperative services in system-level committees, and community or professional forums, consistent with AONL's communication and relationship-building competency domain (AONL, 2023)
-Fosters a culture of psychological safety, teamwork, and shared governance among perioperative staff.
-Maintains survey readiness for The Joint Commission, New York State Department of Health, CMS Conditions of Participation, and other applicable accrediting and regulatory bodies.
-Leads perioperative quality and patient-safety programs, including surgical site infection prevention, National Performance Goals, and never-event reduction initiatives.
-Uses data in system-level decision-making and incorporates evidence into nursing practice to improve outcomes, consistent with graduate-level perioperative nursing competencies.
-Ensures timely completion of incident investigations, root cause analyses, and corrective action plans related to perioperative services.
 

Required Education:
-Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN).
-Master's degree in nursing, Health Care Administration, Business Administration, or a directly related field.

Required Certifications& Licensure:
-Current Registered Nurse (RN) license in New York State, or eligibility for licensure.
-Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.

Preferred Certifications & Licensure:
-Certified Nurse Operating Room (CNOR), Certified Surgical Services Manager/Leader (CSSM/CSSL), Nurse Executive-Board Certified (NE-BC), or NEA-BC.