The Director, Nursing Practice, Quality, and Education coordinates activities and initiatives that enable ambulatory care services to be recognized within the healthcare community for nursing excellence and promotes the guidance, principles, and best practices outlined by the American Academy of Ambulatory Care (AAACN) and continued recognition as a Magnet® organization by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The Director, Nursing Practice, Quality, and Education leads a team of nurse clinicians and nursing leaders in the development and ongoing improvement of resources and systems that support nursing practice, education, professional development, quality, safety, and regulatory compliance initiatives for all sites and entities within Ambulatory at VCU Health System. The Director, Nursing Practice, Quality, and Education is responsible for advancing the systems that support nursing practice, including nursing policy/procedures, clinical practice guidelines, scope of practice, compliance assurance, and shared governance. The Director, Nursing Practice, Quality, and Education is responsible for leading and advancing educational
programs and professional growth opportunities for nursing and patient care services; accomplished by developing, implementing, disseminating, and evaluating programs and initiatives that enhance the knowledge, skills, and performance of clinical teams and nurse leaders to ensure the delivery of high-quality patient-centered care, innovation in education and clinical inquiry.
Essential Job Statements
Establishes an environment in which it is both encouraged and expected that staff speak up for safety; support staff in speaking up; assists Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Ambulatory Nursing Practice by proactively assessing problems and take actions to fix system causes of them; encourages reporting of events and near misses; facilitates timely evaluation of safety events involving department or staff and
implement planned corrective actions; Demonstrates the knowledge and ability of appropriate escalation/involvement of Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Ambulatory Nursing Practice regarding safety events and development of mitigation and improvement strategies.
Supports Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Ambulatory Nursing Practice in establishing and maintaining an appropriate and responsible organizational structure and staffing plan that promotes efficient accomplishment of organizational and service line goals and compliance with VCU Health system policies.
Provides oversight of clinical staff training, evaluation, and problem resolution; provides coaching and direction to nurse leaders to make evidence-based decisions regarding care processes, quality improvement, patient flow and throughput.
Supports Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Ambulatory Nursing Practice by cascading communication and convening regular staff meetings to discuss divisional and organizational priorities.
Supports Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Ambulatory Nursing Practice by monitoring unit and team compliance with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations, including those related to Medicaid, Medicare, and HIPAA.
Demonstrates self-development and continuous learning using assessments to identify opportunities for improvement and developing improvement plan and implementation; Demonstrates VCUHS Star Values by role modeling behaviors and creating a customer service culture that their employees in their efforts to provide excellent customer service, demonstrate appreciation for diversity and use data to analyze and implement enhancements to customer service delivery.
Promotes the growth of the department and individual team members in areas such as healthy work environment, design thinking, change management, and translation of evidence-based processes by identifying strengths and opportunities for professional development, providing formal and informal coaching, and performance management.
Leads the department through system change, analyze data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to enhance educational and leadership outcomes in nursing. Leads and implements change projects, delegates tasks to team members as appropriate, supervises team accomplishments, and compiles an annual report of nursing outcomes across ambulatory.
Partners with EPD team to engage in system strategic planning, participate in goal setting, action planning, and implementation within VCU Health Nursing and Patient Care Services and key stakeholders.
Ensures adherence to nursing scope of practice regulations and guidelines, and collaborate in
ongoing education and training to support nursing competency.
Establishes and monitor nursing key performance indicators to assess quality of
care, patient outcomes, and operational efficiency.
Collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to develop, revise, maintain nursing policies, procedures, and clinical practice guidelines based on evidence-based practice, professional organization guidance, and industry standards.
Collaborates and partner within the department, among peers, clinical teams, enterprise and
organization leaders, academic health partners, and community stakeholders
Patient Population
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.
Infant (1-12 months)
Pediatrics (1-12 years)
Adolescents (13-17 years)
Adults (18-64 years)
Geriatrics (65 years and older)
Employment Qualifications
Education Required:
Bachelor’s degree in Nursing
Master’s degree in Nursing
Education Preferred:
Doctorate, Nursing
Licensure Required:
Current RN licensure in Virginia or eligible compact state
Current Basic Life Support (BLS)
Licensure Preferred:
Certification Required:
Certification Preferred:
Certification in specialty area (examples: NPD-BC, NE-BC, NEA-BC, AMB-BC)
Minimum Qualifications
Years and Type of Required Experience
Minimum of ten (10) years of relevant clinical experience with five (5) years of progressive leadership or management experience
Working Conditions
Periods of high stress and fluctuating workloads may occur.
General office environment.
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 high noise levels and bright lights.
May have periods of constant interruptions.
Prolonged periods of working alone.
EEO Employer/Disabled/Protected Veteran/41 CFR 60-1.4.
