Associate Director of Nursing, RN - Cardiac Operating Room (Peds/Adults) - Day Shift

Associate Director of Nursing (ADON) for Cardiac Operating Rooms

Job Summary

The Associate Director of Nursing (ADON) for Cardiac Operating Rooms provides strategic, clinical, and operational leadership for adult and pediatric cardiac surgical services. This role is accountable for nursing practice oversight, staffing strategy, case flow, and interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure safe, efficient, and high-quality perioperative care.

Responsibilities

• Provides expert clinical oversight for adult and pediatric cardiac surgical nursing practice
• Ensures adherence to evidence-based standards, regulatory requirements, and institutional policies
• Oversees specialized cardiac competencies, including open heart procedures, mechanical circulatory support, pediatric cardiac surgery, ECMO, and emergent cardiac cases
• Leads patient safety initiatives, including participation in Root Cause Analyses (RCA) and corrective action planning
• Ensures readiness for regulatory surveys and sustained compliance with Joint Commission, NYS DOH, and internal quality standards
• Promotes the patient experience through the tenets of the Professional Practice Model of Relationship Centered Care and the Care Delivery Model of Modified Primary Nursing
• Validates Clinical Nurse Manager/Assistant Nurse Manager/Nursing Shift Manager/Senior Clinical Nurse competency in Purposeful Hourly Rounding (PHR) and provides consistent, meaningful feedback
• Synthesizes quantitative and qualitative feedback regarding the patient experience and staff engagement to the Clinical Nurse Manager, Assistant Nurse Manager, Nursing Shift Manager, Senior Clinical Nurse, and staff

Quality and Safety

• Designs, supports, and leads a safe, therapeutic, and efficient patient-centered care environment for professional practice
• Identifies and investigates issues or variances in practice/operations by participating in the RCA process and develops and implements corrective action plans
• Fosters a fair and open culture that encourages error and near-miss occurrence reporting
• Leads and participates in interdisciplinary quality improvement teams using the principles of high reliability
• Communicates with staff and leadership about unit progress, changes, and compliance with quality and safety metrics
• Responds to escalations of potential safety hazards or gaps from best practice by correcting concerns following the institutional chain of command protocol

Operations and Administration

• Supports implementation of the mission, vision, goals, and objectives of the department, throughout the clinical service and individual patient care units
• Provides administrative oversight to a service line, department, or group of units to ensure that all activity (staffing, support services, interdisciplinary collaboration, resources, and financial viability) supports the goals of the organization
• Works collaboratively with Clinical Nurse Managers, Assistant Nurse Managers, Nursing Shift Managers, Senior Clinical Nurses, and physician dyads as well as all members of the healthcare team to develop a cohesive unit leadership group
• Maintains service line compliance with all regulatory agency mandates, including the regulations of NYS DOH and The Joint Commission
• Oversees Clinical Nurse Managers, Assistant Nurse Managers, Nursing Shift Managers, and Senior Clinical Nurses to ensure 24-hour patient care delivery, throughput, staffing, and processes to ensure efficient and effective operations

Staffing Strategy and Workforce Management

• Accountable for cardiac OR staffing models for both the adult and pediatric programs, including coverage for days, evenings, nights, weekends, and on-call needs
• Oversees schedule management, staffing plans, and productivity targets in alignment with fiscal goals
• Supports the management of overtime, vacancies, recruitment, retention, and onboarding of cardiac OR nursing staff under the supervision of the VP of Perioperative services, MSH
• Ensures staffing decisions comply with collective bargaining agreements and institutional policies
• Supports fair, consistent, and transparent staffing practices

Professional Development

• Evaluates and directs the environment of care to support clinical colleagues, patients, and their families and members of the healthcare team
• Advances clinical competence in nursing practice and leadership to progress from competent to expert
• Develops and leads an environment that cultivates a professional image of nursing to colleagues, communication standards include styles and methods that demonstrate caring, respect, empathy, and trust
• Recommends and supports standards that ensure that ethical principles are incorporated into decision-making for patients and families in collaboration with the clinical nursing staff and the healthcare team
• Encourages and facilitates a spirit of scholarship, inquiry, life-long learning, and innovation for self and others
• Oversees and supports staff in shared decision-making through facilitating specialty practice councils, and as a chairperson/member of nursing department committees, and unit initiatives

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science with a major in nursing and Masters degree in nursing or health-related specialty required
• 3-5 years minimum demonstrated clinical and administrative expertise in area of nursing practice assigned
• License: RN Issuing Agency: Department of Health/Office of Professions
• Professional Board Certification in leadership and/or clinical specialty is preferred
• Issuing Agency: New York State
• Name: Basic Life Saver (BLS) Issuing Agency: AHA
• Certification: NRP (Labor and Delivery, NICU dept)
• Certification: ACLS (in ED; PACU/ASU; ICUs; Telemetry Units; SDU; IR, Interventional Cardiology (CCL/EP/Echo); L&D; Endoscopy, and APN Adult Oncology)
• Certification: PALS (in ED; PACU; IR; Peds ICU, and APNs Pediatric Oncology depts.)

Compensation

The Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) provides a salary range to comply with the New York City Law on Salary Transparency in Job Advertisements. The salary range for the role is $185,000 - $200,000 Annually. Actual salaries depend on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and operational need. The salary range or contractual rate listed does not include bonuses/incentive, differential pay, or other forms of compensation or benefits.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time - discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Mount Sinai Health System is an equal opportunity employer, complying with all applicable federal civil rights laws. We do not discriminate, exclude, or treat individuals differently based on race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are deeply committed to fostering an environment where all faculty, staff, students, trainees, patients, visitors, and the communities we serve feel respected and supported.