The Patient Care Director (PCD) provides leadership, planning, organization, implementation, and evaluation of management, administrative operations, and clinical practice activities in collaboration with interdisciplinary leaders across the organization on a 24-hour basis.
A key responsibility of this role is fostering staff engagement, professional development, satisfaction, and retention through service excellence principles and effective leadership practices. The PCD ensures the delivery of coordinated, seamless, high-quality, cost-effective, and patient-centered care across the continuum of services.
This leader is committed to creating a work environment that promotes teamwork, professional pride, continuous learning, and exceptional patient outcomes. The PCD maintains knowledge of specialty services, nursing standards, regulatory requirements, and emerging healthcare trends at the local and national levels. The role also requires building and maintaining productive relationships with physicians and clinical leaders while actively engaging them in departmental planning and decision-making.
Key Responsibilities
The successful candidate will:
- Collaborate with nursing education and clinical subject-matter experts to support staff education, clinical competency development, and orientation programs.
- Support the onboarding and integration of newly hired clinical staff through regular meetings, coaching, and professional development activities.
- Foster a positive acute-care environment that promotes respect, collaboration, learning, and knowledge sharing.
- Serve as a resource and leader in promoting safe, effective, compassionate, evidence-based, and cost-conscious patient care.
- Partner with departmental leadership to oversee daily staffing, workflow, and operational activities, including evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays as required.
- Maintain accountability for all clinical functions within the department on a 24-hour basis.
- Conduct routine environmental and operational rounds to ensure regulatory compliance, quality standards, and readiness for inspections or surveys.
- Perform leadership rounding focused on patient, family, and staff experience.
- Provide administrative or facility leadership coverage as needed.
- Deliver department-specific education and training using current evidence-based practices.
- Conduct ongoing learning needs assessments to identify development opportunities for clinical staff.
- Monitor adherence to clinical standards, policies, and best-practice guidelines through observation, coaching, feedback, and education.
- Promote collaborative relationships among nursing staff, interdisciplinary teams, physicians, and community healthcare partners.
- Support quality improvement, patient safety, and performance excellence initiatives.
- Perform additional duties and responsibilities as assigned.
Full Time * Day Shift
The schedule during the week will vary depending on department needs.
- Current NJ Registered Nurse license
- A minimum five (5) years of clinical experience in Emergency Medicine
- Minimum of 3 years of management experience required
- A strong commitment to furthering institutional performance measures through interdisciplinary teamwork is essential
- Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills with a demonstrated ability to orally relate complex information in a reliable fashion to both leadership and governance as well as general staff members and the medical staff.
- Must demonstrate a strong orientation to customer satisfaction, effective teamwork, problem solving and utilize small group dynamics in conflict management.
- Strong background in statistical process control and/or other quality improvement and measurement techniques necessary. Computer literacy required.