Director of Nursing

Nemours is seeking a Director of Nursing, Acute Care to join our Nemours Children's Health team in Wilmington, DE.

The Director of Nursing, Acute Care provides strategic, operational, and clinical leadership for acute care services across Nemours Children's Health, Delaware Valley. This role is responsible for advancing high-quality, safe, efficient, and patient- and family-centered care through the development, implementation, and oversight of care delivery models, operational infrastructure, workforce strategies, and enterprise initiatives.

The Director partners with nursing, physician, operational, and interdisciplinary leaders to strengthen clinical operations, standardize care practices, improve patient flow and resource utilization, advance quality and regulatory compliance, and support current and future organizational growth.

This leader provides oversight of key acute care operational programs, including behavioral health care delivery and response models, ensuring safe, coordinated, and effective care for patients with behavioral health needs. The Director ensures the voice of the child and family is integrated into care delivery, operational decision-making, and patient experience priorities while fostering a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, accountability, and professional development.

Essential Functions

1. Provides strategic, operational, and clinical leadership for acute care services, ensuring safe, high-quality, patient- and family-centered care across the continuum.

2. Strengthens operational infrastructure to support current demands, future growth, workforce sustainability, patient throughput, and resource stewardship.

3. Provides strategic and operational oversight for behavioral health care delivery, response programs, companion and observation models, policies, and supporting systems to ensure safe, coordinated care for patients with behavioral health needs.

4. Champions the voice of the child and family by incorporating patient and family feedback into care delivery, patient experience, quality improvement, and operational planning.

5. Oversees key organizational priorities related to quality, safety, regulatory compliance, workforce engagement, patient experience, operational performance, and financial stewardship.

6. Establishes, monitors, and acts upon key performance indicators related to clinical outcomes, patient safety, operational efficiency, financial performance, productivity, and patient experience.

7. Ensures compliance with applicable state, federal, accreditation, and regulatory requirements and promotes organizational readiness for surveys and inspections.

8. Uses data analytics, benchmarking, and continuous improvement methodologies to identify opportunities and achieve sustainable performance improvements.

9. Leads and coordinates interdisciplinary and enterprise initiatives designed to improve care delivery, operational performance, patient safety, and patient experience.

10. Develops high-performing leaders and teams through coaching, mentoring, succession planning, and professional development.

11. Collaborates with executive leadership to develop and execute strategic, operational, workforce, and financial plans that advance the mission and goals of Nemours Children's Health.

12. Serves as a subject matter expert and organizational resource for acute care operations, nursing practice, behavioral health integration, care delivery innovation, and patient experience.

13. Represents Nemours internally and externally in professional, community, and healthcare forums.

14. Promotes and models the Nemours Mission, Vision, Values, Standards of Behavior, and ethical leadership principles.

15. Performs other duties as assigned.

16. Maintains ongoing professional growth and stays current with trends in pediatric nursing, healthcare operations, leadership, and care delivery innovation.

17. Participates in internal and external committees, workgroups, and professional forums to support organizational priorities and shared learning.

18. Facilitates leadership meetings, rounding, and communication forums to maintain visibility, engagement, alignment, and accountability.

19. Supports quality improvement, regulatory readiness, and operational initiatives as assigned to advance safe, effective, and reliable care.

Qualifications

Masters of Science in Nursing required; certification in specialty and/or Nursing Leadership certification required.

AHA BLS

Minimum of 10 years pediatric nursing experience required. 5 years management & leadership experience preferred.

Nemours Children's Health is an internationally recognized pediatric health system serving more than 1.7 million patient encounters each year. We deliver care across six states through two freestanding children’s hospitals — Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware and Nemours Children's Hospital, Florida — along with a network of more than 80 primary, urgent, and specialty care practices and more than 40 hospital partnerships.

Backed by the Nemours Foundation and Alfred I. duPont Trust, our $1.7B nonprofit system is dedicated to improving children's health through clinical care, research, education, advocacy, and prevention. Our Whole Child Health approach focuses equally on prevention and treatment, partnering with communities to help every child thrive.

Inclusion and belonging guide our strategy and growth. We are committed to culturally relevant care, reducing health disparities, and fostering an environment where every associate, patient, and family feels supported and valued.

Learn more at Nemours.org.