Assistant Chief Nurse (Home Based Primary Care)

About the role

The Assistant Chief Nurse for Home Based Primary Care provides high-level leadership over nursing care, staff, resources, and regulatory compliance. They guide quality improvement, interdisciplinary teamwork, and patient-centered initiatives. The role supports program development, staff education, strategic planning, and evidence-based practice to ensure safe, effective, and mission-aligned Veteran care.

Responsibilities

• Functions as a self-directed clinical leader, educator, and consultant utilizing management theory in collaboration with Rehabilitation and Long-Term/Extended Care (RLTC) Division and other services.
• Establish and maintain effective relationships with all levels of medical center personnel and relate effectively with customers, families, and the community as well as program and service leaders at the local and network levels.
• Assists Nurse Managers (NM) to carry out the functions and activities expected of them.
• Contribute ideas and recommendations for the establishment of standards of care, policies, and objectives for the enhancement of nursing organization-wide, while assisting in policy-making activities as related to customer service and the overall functioning of administrative and clinical programs.
• Collaborate with other health care staff to establish and maintain programs that cross service and/or discipline lines and influence organizational mission and health care.
• Demonstrate leadership at the service and/or hospital level, including functioning as a nursing leader with the ability to delegate appropriately.
• Perform administrative functions to assist the Associate Chief Nurse (ACN) which include but are not limited to educational programs, medicine specialty, procedural areas, etc.
• Assist with aggregate data and participate in the budget process to plan for current, emerging, and future resource requirements for operational status.
• Provide leadership in determining the allocation of resources based on patient care systems that produce high-quality outcomes.
• Engage in professional organizations to enhance leadership and career growth.
• Equip staff with tools for culturally competent care and promote a culture of accountability for high-quality, cost-effective outcomes.
• Cultivate alliances across the care continuum, building trust through active listening, engagement, and emotional intelligence.
• Affirm nursing/clinical objectives with organizational strategic outcomes, participating in strategy planning and execution.
• Promote an inclusive workplace valuing diversity to achieve the organizations vision and mission.

Qualifications

• Basic Requirements: Graduate of a school of professional nursing approved by the appropriate accrediting agency and accredited by one of the following accrediting bodies at the time the program was completed by the applicant: The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) or The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE); OR Individuals attending a master's level bridge program in nursing who have completed coursework equivalent to a bachelor's level degree in Nursing may have opportunity to become registered as a nurse with a state licensing board prior to completion of the bridge program. Upon achievement of a State license, the individual may be appointed on temporary basis and later converted to a permanent appointment upon successful completion and graduation from the bridge program. (Reference VA Handbook 5005, Appendix G6); OR In cases of graduates of foreign schools of professional nursing, possession of a current, full, active, and unrestricted registration will meet the requirement for graduation from an approved school of professional nursing to warrant an appointment as a Nurse who has completed an associated degree/entry level Nursing education program. Credit for foreign nursing education higher that associate degree/entry level requires a formal degree equivalency validation from a recognized equivalency evaluation accepted by VA such as International Consultants of Delaware (ICD).
• Current, full, active, and unrestricted registration as a graduate professional nurse in a State, Territory or Commonwealth (i.e., Puerto Rico) of the United States, or the District of Columbia. Graduate Nurse Technician (GNT) Exception: Candidates who otherwise meet the basic education requirements, but do not possess the required licensure, may be appointed at the entry step of the grade and level applicable to the completed nursing education as a GNT on a 120-day temporary appointment while actively pursuing licensure (may be extended up to two years on a case-by-case-basis.)