Director of Nursing - Emergency Services

Job Description Summary

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Job Description

The Director of Nursing for Emergency Services serves as the nursing leader for the Emergency Department and is accountable for the overall clinical, operational, financial, and strategic performance of the department.

This leader provides 24-hour accountability for patient care delivery, nursing practice, workforce engagement, quality outcomes, regulatory compliance, patient experience, and departmental operations. The Director collaborates with physicians, hospital leadership, ancillary departments, and system partners to ensure the Emergency Department consistently delivers safe, efficient, high-quality care.

The Director is responsible for creating a highly engaged workforce through visible leadership, coaching, mentorship, accountability, and professional development while fostering a culture centered on excellence, teamwork, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Primary Responsibilities

Leadership & Culture

• Create and sustain a positive, highly engaged, and accountable work environment.
• Foster a culture focused on teamwork, respect, professionalism, safety, and continuous improvement.
• Recruit, develop, mentor, and retain exceptional nursing and frontline staff.
• Build leadership capability through coaching, succession planning, and professional development.
• Serve as a visible leader who rounds regularly with patients, families, physicians, and staff.
• Promote shared governance, employee engagement, recognition, and professional practice.

Patient Experience

• Lead initiatives that consistently improve patient experience metrics and patient satisfaction.
• Develop strategies to improve communication, responsiveness, service recovery, and care coordination.
• Establish accountability for patient-centered care and exceptional customer service.
• Utilize patient feedback to drive meaningful operational improvements.

Throughput & Operational Excellence

• Lead initiatives to improve Emergency Department throughput and patient flow.
• Partner with physicians, hospital operations, inpatient nursing, bed management, transport, EVS, and ancillary departments to optimize capacity management.
• Improve door-to-provider times, length of stay, left without being seen (LWBS), boarding times, and overall Emergency Department efficiency.
• Utilize data analytics to identify trends and implement sustainable process improvements.

Quality & Patient Safety

• Lead quality improvement initiatives that improve clinical outcomes and patient safety.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and accreditation standards including DNV, CMS, Joint Commission standards as applicable, and state regulations.
• Monitor quality indicators and develop action plans to improve performance.
• Promote a culture of high reliability and just culture principles.
• Ensure evidence-based nursing practice throughout the department.

Financial & Business Operations

• Develop and manage departmental operating and capital budgets.
• Ensure responsible stewardship of financial resources.
• Monitor productivity, staffing effectiveness, labor management, and resource utilization.
• Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency while maintaining exceptional quality.

Additional Job Description

Qualifications

Required Education

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited school of nursing.

Preferred Education

• Master’s degree in nursing, Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, or related field.

Experience

Required

• Minimum of five (5) years of progressive nursing leadership experience in an acute care hospital.
• Minimum of three (3) years of leadership experience within Emergency Services.

Preferred

• Experience leading a high-volume Emergency Department.
• Demonstrated success improving:
  • Employee engagement
  • Patient experience
  • Throughput
  • Clinical quality
  • Operational performance
• Proven experience leading organizational change and building high-performing teams.

Licensure & Certifications

Required

• Current Registered Nurse license in South Carolina or Compact State.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) – American Heart Association.
• Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS).
• NIH Stroke Scale Certification.

Preferred

• National Nursing Board Certification (NE-BC, CEN, CPEN, TCRN, or other nationally recognized nursing specialty certification).

If you like working with energetic enthusiastic individuals, you will enjoy your career with us!

The Medical University of South Carolina is an Equal Opportunity Employer. MUSC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or belief, age, sex, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, protected veteran status, family or parental status, or any other status protected by state laws and/or federal regulations. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment based upon applicable qualifications, merit and business need.

Medical University of South Carolina participates in the federal E-Verify program to confirm the identity and employment authorization of all newly hired employees. For further information about the E-Verify program, please click here: http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify/employees