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Ardent Health
Topeka, Kansas

Director of Nursing Excellence and Magnet Programs

Registered NurseIncludes callNo nightsFull-Time

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting

Ask the employer about the pay range, the work setting, weekend coverage and time off.

Posted 1mo ago

Job Description

Join our team as a day shift, full-time, Director of Nursing Excellence and Magnet Programs in Topeka, KS.

Why Join Us?

Thrive in a People-First Environment and Make Healthcare Better

Thrive: We empower our team with career growth opportunities, tuition assistance, and resources that support your wellness, education, and financial well-being.

People-First: We prioritize your well-being with paid time off, comprehensive health benefits, and a supportive, inclusive culture where you are valued and cared for.

Make Healthcare Better: We use advanced technology to support our team and enhance patient care.

Get to Know Your Team

The University of Kansas Health System St. Francis Campus, a part of a rich legacy of compassionate care since 1909, now offers 378 licensed beds, a history of innovation, and strong community support.

This strategic nursing leadership role partners with hospital leaders across the organization to drive Nursing Excellence initiatives and advance the hospital's Magnet designation journey.

Working collaboratively with leaders and frontline teams, the director will guide evidence collection, champion engagement efforts, support quality outcomes, and help position the organization for Magnet recognition within the next two years.

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and coach nurses at all levels in their understanding and practical application of Magnet standards.

Act as a knowledge expert and resource that interprets and integrates the Magnet standards into nursing practice and communicates important changes to senior leadership.

Promote evidence-based practice and research in nursing practice and educational processes.

Serve on shared governance councils and function as a liaison to all system departments and consultative resource for administration, nursing, non-nursing employees, physicians, and community.

Promote nursing excellence and recognition through shared decision making and promotes professional development of nurses by actively working with staff.

Develop, coordinate, and evaluate the Magnet program to advance a culture of excellence by including special events, creating Magnet campaign, leading the Magnet steering committee, and attending local/regional/national magnet-related conferences meetings.

Work in collaboration with Quality to collect, correlate, analyze and generate reports for nursing sensitive indicators.

Monitor, create, customize, and manage databases responsible to nursing’s needs for the purpose of the annual demographic data collection tool (DDCT), interim monitoring reports, and the publication of the Magnet document.

Coordinate the preparation, editing, and publication of the Magnet document and oversees system preparation for Magnet related site visits – DDCT, Interim Monitoring Reports.

Work in conjunction with Director of Quality to prepare an operating budget, which estimates various expenditures, and monitors/reports the status of the budget monthly.

Contribute to strategic initiatives through timely data management, analysis, and graphic display for driving actionable nursing and organizational outcomes.

Oversees submission of nurse sensitive indicators to the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) in concert with the Director of Quality and Transformational Care

Responsible for coordination and facilitation of the hospital's or clinic's nursing research and evidence-based program and related projects

Supports nurse executive communication to frontline staff, assists with nurse executive communication as requested.

Active participation in nursing strategic planning, professional practice model development, revisions, and the nursing annual report

Maintains strong relationships with the American Nurses Credentialing Center program staff, proactively anticipating updates to the Magnet Manual, standards, manual revisions and designation information.

Qualifications

Job Requirements

5+ years of experience in hospital nursing

Master’s Degree in Nursing Required

Must maintain a Kansas Compact RN License in state of home residence. Must complete compact license process within the first 6 months of obtaining the role.

  • Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
  • Significant knowledge and experience with the American Nurses Credentialling Programs, including the Magnet designation program.
  • Preferred Job Qualifications
  • Doctor of Nursing Practice, or PhD in Nursing preferred
  • Previous project management experience preferred
  • Previous Magnet Program Director or Pathway to Excellence experience strongly preferred

#LI-AG1

Qualifications

Education
Master's degree (postgraduate degree)

Key Skills

Magnet program managementQuality improvementData analysisMentoringBudgetingRegulatory complianceClinical documentationStaff development

Nursing Administration — Registered Nurse Career Context

Ardent Health holds silver-tier status on WeekdayDoc's Top Employers work-life index, composite score 75/100, 43 active listings.

Of the 50 active Registered Nurse listings this role was benchmarked against, 30% are remote, 54% have no call, 78% require no weekends.

Registered Nurse pay on WeekdayDoc is up 4.6% vs. the prior quarter (through Sep 2026).

The cost-of-living index for Kansas is 90.1 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)). 61.0% of Kansas clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

Top Registered Nurse Jobs

46 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution44 jobs · 39 employers

15
<$95k
10
$95k-115k
8
$115k-135k
11
$135k-155k

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks40 jobs · 39 employers

401k / retirement match
93%
CME allowance
25%
Sign-on bonus
15%
Loan repayment
10%
PSLF eligible
5%

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#3

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Work-life snapshot

median 1.5this job 1.5
Better work-life than 50% of Nursing Administration (RN) listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 566 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

  • No nights
  • Includes call

Living in Topeka

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$207k
Typical market rent
$1,285/mo
Residents’ average commute
17 min
Metro price indexU.S. average = 100
88.8
State income tax
Up to 5.7%
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Aug 2026), Zillow market rents (Aug 2026), U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year.

BEA 2024 · Topeka, KS metro prices. Housing figures are city-level.

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.

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About Ardent Health

Hospitals and Health Care
Topeka, Kansas
201-500 employees

Benefits & Perks

Paid time off
Comprehensive health benefits
Tuition assistance
Career growth opportunities
Supportive culture