Director of Nursing (Home Nursing) - Naperville,IL 60563

Director Of Nursing

The Director of Nursing (DON) is responsible for the overall leadership, management, coordination, and oversight of nursing and clinical services provided by the home nursing agency. The DON ensures that clients receive safe, appropriate, high-quality, and person-centered nursing care in accordance with physician/provider orders, individualized plans of care, agency policies, professional nursing standards, and applicable federal and Illinois requirements.

The Director of Nursing provides clinical leadership to the nursing department, supervises nursing personnel, oversees clinical competency and performance, supports new client admissions and case openings, monitors supervisory visits and documentation, and works collaboratively with Human Resources, Scheduling, Quality Assurance, and agency leadership to maintain appropriate staffing and continuity of care.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide overall direction and leadership for the agency's home nursing services.
• Ensure nursing services are delivered safely, professionally, and according to each client's authorized plan of care and physician/provider orders.
• Establish and maintain appropriate standards of nursing practice.
• Provide clinical guidance and consultation to nursing supervisors, RNs, LPNs, and other clinical staff.
• Review significant changes in client condition and ensure appropriate clinical interventions, notifications, and follow-up.
• Promote client safety, dignity, independence, privacy, and quality of life.
• Serve as a clinical resource for complex cases and nursing concerns.
• Participate in or oversee the clinical admission process for new home nursing clients.
• Review referrals and available clinical information to determine whether the agency can safely meet the client's nursing needs.
• Ensure appropriate nursing assessments are completed before or at the initiation of services as required.
• Oversee development, implementation, review, and revision of individualized plans of care.
• Ensure nursing staff understand client-specific diagnoses, medications, treatments, precautions, equipment, emergency procedures, and physician orders before assuming independent responsibility for a case.
• Coordinate with clients, families, physicians/providers, hospitals, pharmacies, vendors, and other members of the healthcare team as appropriate.
• Ensure required supervisory visits are completed accurately and within established timeframes.
• Conduct field supervisory visits when necessary.
• Assign qualified clinical supervisors to clients based on clinical needs, geographic coverage, and staff competency.
• Review supervisory visit findings and ensure identified concerns receive timely follow-up.
• Evaluate whether nursing services remain appropriate and whether changes to the client's plan of care are necessary.
• Ensure clinical concerns identified during field visits are communicated to appropriate leadership and healthcare providers.
• Establish and oversee nursing competency requirements.
• Ensure nurses complete required competency and skills evaluations before independently performing assigned clinical procedures.
• Coordinate initial and ongoing competency evaluations for nursing personnel.
• Verify competency for client-specific skills, which may include medication administration, enteral feeding, tracheostomy care, ventilator care, seizure management, oxygen administration, catheter care, wound care, and other authorized nursing procedures.
• Ensure competency documentation is completed and maintained appropriately.
• Identify nurses requiring additional education, retraining, supervision, or competency validation.
• Participate in clinical orientation for newly hired nurses.
• Ensure nursing employees receive appropriate general and client-specific training.
• Develop or approve clinical training materials, nursing protocols, and competency tools.
• Provide continuing education and clinical updates when changes occur in policies, procedures, regulations, or standards of practice.
• Identify educational needs through audits, incidents, supervisory visits, performance reviews, and clinical observations.
• Collaborate closely with Scheduling and Human Resources to maintain adequate nursing coverage.
• Assist in determining whether nurses are clinically appropriate for specific client assignments.
• Ensure nurses are assigned within their authorized scope of practice and demonstrated competencies.
• Address clinical staffing concerns that could affect client health or safety.
• Assist with emergency staffing and continuity-of-care planning when necessary.
• Work with Scheduling to minimize missed shifts and gaps in nursing coverage.
• Escalate significant staffing shortages or safety concerns to agency leadership.
• Ensure nursing documentation is complete, accurate, timely, and consistent with the client's plan of care.
• Review clinical records, nursing notes, assessments, supervisory documentation, medication records, treatment records, and other clinical documentation as required.
• Monitor documentation for omissions, inconsistencies, late entries, or other compliance concerns.
• Ensure corrections and follow-up are completed when documentation deficiencies are identified.
• Maintain confidentiality of client health information in accordance with HIPAA and agency policy.
• Participate in the agency's Quality Assurance/Performance Improvement activities.
• Conduct or oversee clinical audits to evaluate quality, safety, documentation, and compliance.
• Review trends involving hospitalizations, emergency department visits, medication errors, missed shifts, client complaints, incidents, and other clinical concerns.
• Develop corrective action and improvement plans when deficiencies are identified.
• Monitor corrective actions to determine whether improvements are sustained.
• Report significant clinical trends and risks to agency leadership.
• Review clinical incidents, medication errors, injuries, changes in condition, hospitalizations, and other significant events.
• Ensure appropriate immediate clinical action is taken to protect client health and safety.
• Ensure physicians/providers, guardians, families, agency leadership, and other required parties are notified when appropriate.
• Participate in investigations involving clinical care or nursing practice.
• Identify whether additional training, supervision, corrective action, or changes to the plan of care are necessary.
• Cooperate with regulatory or oversight investigations as required.
• Maintain knowledge of applicable federal and Illinois requirements governing home nursing services.
• Ensure nursing practices comply with professional standards, agency policies, licensing requirements, payer requirements, and applicable regulations.
• Assist with regulatory surveys, audits, inspections, and corrective action plans.
• Maintain required nursing policies and procedures and recommend revisions when necessary.
• Ensure clinical staff maintain required licenses, certifications, training, and competencies in collaboration with Human Resources.
• Supervise and evaluate nursing leadership and clinical staff as assigned.
• Participate in interviewing, selecting, orienting, and evaluating nursing personnel.
• Conduct or participate in nursing performance evaluations.
• Provide coaching and corrective guidance regarding clinical performance.
• Collaborate with Human Resources regarding nursing employee performance, attendance, conduct, competency, or compliance concerns.
• Recommend retraining, additional supervision, removal from a client assignment, disciplinary action, or other appropriate intervention when warranted.
• Promote professional communication, accountability, teamwork, and respectful workplace conduct.
• The Director of Nursing will maintain effective communication and collaboration with:
• Agency Administration and Executive Leadership
• Human Resources
• Scheduling/Staffing Department
• Quality Assurance/Compliance
• Clinical Nurse Supervisors
• Field Nurses
• Clients and families/guardians
• Physicians and other healthcare providers
• Hospitals and healthcare facilities
• Pharmacies and medical equipment providers
• Case managers and other authorized external partners

The DON is expected to communicate significant clinical, staffing, safety, and compliance concerns promptly to appropriate leadership.

Minimum Qualifications

• Current and unrestricted Registered Nurse (RN) license in the State of Illinois.
• Nursing degree from an accredited nursing program.
• Appropriate professional nursing experience consistent with the services provided by the agency.
• Previous supervisory, management, home health, home nursing, private duty nursing, or similar clinical leadership experience strongly preferred.
• Current CPR/BLS certification as required by the agency.
• Knowledge of nursing standards