Chief Nursing Officer, UT Health Rehabilitation Center

Ardent Health is a leading provider of healthcare in communities across the country. With a focus on consumer-friendly processes and investments in innovative services and technologies, Ardent is passionate about making healthcare better and easier to access. We are driven by our purpose of caring for people: our patients, our communities and one another.

Located in Nashville, Tennessee, Ardent has earned a reputation as one of the industry's strongest and most innovative healthcare systems. Our facilities and clinics are consistently recognized among healthcare's best employers. We recognize each hospital and clinic is as unique as the community it serves. We strive to maintain strong community ties through advisory boards, contributions, charitable care, education and outreach.

Ardent includes:

• 30 hospitals
• 200+ sites of care
• 4,323 beds
• 23,000+ team members
• 8,168 nurses
• 1,700+ aligned providers
• 5.7M annual provider encounters
• $5.1B in revenues

Ardent makes considerable investments in people, technology, facilities, and communities, producing high quality care and extraordinary results. From newly constructed facilities and expanded services, to lifesaving technology and outstanding opportunities for employees, Ardent is committed to providing its hospitals and clinics the tools needed to succeed.

We believe it is this mix of corporate support and local autonomy that equips our teams for success.

UT Health East Texas:

UT Health East Texas is comprised of 10 hospitals, more than 90 clinics, the Olympic Plaza Tower, 13 regional rehabilitation facilities, two freestanding emergency centers, regional home health services covering 41 counties, an EMS fleet of more than 50 ambulances and four helicopters, and a comprehensive seven-trauma center care network, including the region's only Level 1 trauma facility. In 2024, we also added six Urgent Care clinics to our network. Our team includes nearly 400 employed providers and more than 7,000 team members.

As a partner with the University of Texas System, UT Health East Texas is uniquely positioned to provide East Texans with access to leading-edge research and clinical therapies while training and educating the next generation of providers and other health professionals. Graduate Medical Education is an integral component at UT Health East Texas. With Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Occupational Medicine, and Psychiatry residency programs, we also welcomed our first class of medical students in 2023 in partnership with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.

UT Health East Texas Rehabilitation Center:

UT Health East Texas Rehabilitation Center provides a large network of post-acute rehabilitation facilities to patients across the region. Over the past 25 years, our care network has grown to include a 49-bed inpatient hospital, 14 outpatient therapy clinics, 11 cardiopulmonary rehabilitation clinics and nine Olympic fitness centers. As part of the UT Health East Texas system, UT Health Rehabilitation Center has access to some of the most advanced therapy techniques and care available - including physical, occupational and speech therapies. We also offer cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation - with our Tyler center boasting the first intensive cardiac rehabilitation program in East Texas.

Job Overview:

We have an exciting opportunity to join our leadership team at UT Health Rehabilitation Center as a Chief Nursing Officer.

The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) is responsible for providing leadership, direction, and administration of activities relating to patient care, nursing practice, nursing education, and clinical development across the hospital. The CNO is responsible for driving, supporting, and modeling a culture focused on employee engagement, quality, patient safety, fiscal responsibility, and the overall patient experience. The CNO shall perform all duties in strict compliance with federal, state and local law, rules and regulation, including the prompt reporting of any incident in which the rights of employees, patient and visitors or other practitioners may have been violated.

• Strategize and drive process improvements. These may focus on innovative care delivery and operational models designed to improve clinical services, outcomes, patient throughput, and patient safety.
• Promote the use and implementation of technology in order to streamline operations, facilitate communications, and optimize work processes.
• Collaborate with other teams for the implementation of programs, policies, and procedures that address how patient care needs are assessed, met, and evaluated.
• Ensure patient and family centered care is comprehensive, coordinated, and monitored for effectiveness through a quality improvement model. This should result in outcome measures that outperform national benchmark statistics in clinical areas.
• Allocate financial, information, and human capital for improvement activities to ensure delivery of cost effective and efficient services to patients, physicians, and hospital departments.
• Promote interdisciplinary collaboration to all practicing nurses about the importance of partnerships with patients, families, and other disciplines to ensure a comprehensive care plan.
• Enhance quality outcomes by partnering with leadership for shared clinical decision making, but maintain overall responsibility for all of patient care. CNO has overall responsibility for patient care.
• Serve as a member of the executive leadership team with a focus on building and supporting relationships with internal and external constituents and stakeholders and ensuring optimal operating effectiveness and strategic positioning.
• Assume an active role with the hospital's governing body, senior leadership, medical staff, management, and other clinical leaders in the hospital's decision-making structure and process.
• Communicate expectations, develop leaders, and advance the organization to meet needs and strategic priorities that are current and/or anticipated.
• Promote relationships with community organizations to improve patient outcomes and the health of the communities served.
• Establish structures, processes, and expectations that support lifelong professional learning, role development, and career growth.
• Collaborate with directors in hiring, orientation, evaluation, discipline, and education of clinical staff.
• Round on patients, families, employees, and physicians to enrich communication, ensure alignment, oversee operations, and ensure that the experience is positive.
• Establish methods to ensure that nurses organization-wide are involved in shared-governance and decision-making structures and processes that establish standards of practice and address issues of concern.
• Assure the flow of information and decision-making is bi-directional and horizontal among all professional nurses, the CNO, and the leadership team.
• Establish and enhance a culture of evidence-based practice in clinical and management initiatives.
• Approve nursing policies, nursing standards of patient care, treatment, and services.
• Integrate nursing practice with the mission, vision, philosophy, behavior standards, and values established by the organization.
• Ensure that the care delivery system promotes continuous, consistent, efficient, and accountable patient care.
• Communicate with impact in order to effectively engage others and achieve desired results.
• Recognize the broad and long-term implications of business decisions and plans.
• Promote consistent and positive patient interactions with the goal of providing exceptional patient service.
• Adhere to the "Code of Conduct" and "Behavior Standards."

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in nursing
• Master's degree in nursing or related field
• 5+ years of experience in clinical nurse leadership and experience as a Chief Nursing Officer
• Current licensure as a registered professional nurse (RN) in the state in which he or she practices, in accordance, with law and regulation required.
• CRRN certified or become CRRN certified within a year of hire, preferred.