Director of Nursing- Critical Care

Job Overview

The Director of Nursing – Critical Care provides strategic, clinical, and operational leadership for nursing services within assigned critical care areas. This role is accountable for advancing high-quality, safe, patient-centered care while ensuring operational excellence, strong team engagement, and effective stewardship of resources.

The Director leads and partners with nursing leaders, physicians, and interdisciplinary teams to drive clinical outcomes, patient safety, service excellence, workforce effectiveness, and continuous improvement. The Director is responsible for patient care outcomes, nursing practice, talent and performance management, fiscal oversight, regulatory compliance, quality improvement, and collaboration with the medical staff.

Given the complexity of the patient population and service line, leadership experience within critical care is required, with Cardiovascular Operating Room (CVOR) experience highly preferred. The ideal candidate brings a strong understanding of high-acuity clinical environments and the ability to effectively partner with physicians, nursing leadership, and multidisciplinary teams.

Job Requirements

- Master’s Degree in Nursing, or a related field with a BSN required
- Active Registered Nurse (RN) license required
- 3–4 years of progressive nursing experience required
- Leadership experience within critical care, cardiovascular, surgical, or other high-acuity nursing environments strongly preferred
- CVOR experience highly preferred
- Working knowledge of CMS, The Joint Commission, and other regulatory requirements applicable to nursing and assigned areas of responsibility
- Membership in a related professional organization required
- Job Responsibilities

Strategic & Operational Leadership
- Provides strategic and operational leadership for assigned critical care nursing services. Establishes priorities and performance expectations that support quality, patient safety, service, workforce, and financial goals. Monitors operational performance and partners with the Site CNO to implement systems, policies, and practices that support organizational objectives.

Quality, Patient Safety & Patient Experience
- Partners with the Site CNO, physicians, nursing leaders, and interdisciplinary teams to establish goals and implement initiatives that improve patient outcomes, patient safety, and the overall patient experience. Ensures consistent standards of care across assigned areas and promotes accountability for clinical performance.

Clinical & Physician Partnership
- Builds strong collaborative relationships with physicians and other clinical leaders to advance critical care services and ensure effective coordination of care. Serves as a key nursing leadership partner in addressing clinical, operational, and patient care priorities within high-acuity environments.

Evidence-Based Nursing Practice
- Promotes the integration of evidence-based practices, clinical guidelines, and research into nursing care. Identifies opportunities for clinical and administrative inquiry and supports continuous improvement and nursing excellence.

Accreditation & Regulatory Compliance
- Ensures compliance with applicable regulatory and accreditation standards, including The Joint Commission, CMS, ODH, OSHA, the Ohio Board of Nursing, and other state and federal requirements. Maintains readiness and accountability within assigned areas.

Culture, Engagement & Relationship Building
- Creates an environment that supports collaboration, accountability, inclusion, and professional nursing practice. Promotes organizational models of care, policies, and cultural expectations that enhance patient care while supporting nurse recruitment, engagement, and retention.

Talent & Leadership Development
- Sets clear expectations for nursing leaders and direct reports, provides ongoing coaching and performance feedback, and supports leadership and professional development. Partners with nurse managers, physicians, and other leaders to identify workforce and skill-development needs and build a strong leadership pipeline.

Financial & Resource Management
- Provides oversight of assigned cost centers and effectively manages staffing, productivity, budgets, and other resources. Balances clinical needs with operational and financial priorities to support sustainable delivery of high-quality care.

Other Related Information:

Direct Report FTEs = 3-9 Indirect Report FTEs = 150-299

Working Conditions:

Bending -
Climbing - Rarely
Concentrating - Consistently
Continuous Learning - Consistently
Hearing: Conversation - Consistently
Hearing: Other Sounds - Frequently
Interpersonal Communication - Consistently
Kneeling - Rarely
Lifting <10 Lbs. - Frequently
Lifting 50+ Lbs. - Rarely
Lifting <50 Lbs. - Occasionally
Pulling - Rarely
Pushing - Rarely
Reaching - Rarely
Reading - Consistently
Sitting - Frequently
Standing - Frequently
Stooping - Rarely
Talking - Consistently
Thinking/Reasoning - Consistently
Use of Hands - Consistently
Color Vision - Frequently
Visual Acuity: Far - Frequently
Visual Acuity: Near - Consistently
Walking - Frequently

Leadership Performance Standards

TriHealth leaders create a culture of engagement, safety & reliability and high performance by consistently modeling and utilizing the following TriHealth Way leadership competencies, tactics and ALWAYS Behaviors to drive strategic pillar results:

Achievement of Annual Pillar Goals:
1) Safety/Quality, 2) Service, 3) Growth, 4) Culture/People, 5) Finance

Leadership Competencies:
TriHealth Way of Leading
TriHealth Way of Serving
Transformation Change
Drive for Results
Build Organizational Talent

Leadership Tactics:
Conduct department huddles. Generally, clinical departments hold daily huddles, non-clinical hold weekly huddles.
Regularly Round on Team Members, using questions from the rounding log.
- 25 or fewer team members = monthly
- 26-50 team members = every other month
- 51+ (and optional team members) = quarterly

Lead monthly team meetings using meeting agenda template; review stoplight report; cascade key leadership messages.

Model, coach and validate team members use of TriHealth Way behaviors (AIDET + Promise, Always Behaviors and Always HEARD).

Recognize team members for safety wins, positive performance and demonstrating SERVE and ALWAYS behaviors, TriHealth Way of Leading, Serving and Delivering Care.