I notice that that the acronym, DON, for director of nursing is used a lot here. We would call that person the Nursing Manager or Unit Manager.
The Director of Nursing at my facility is in charge of all nursing for the facility and has her office on "executive row" right next to the hospital administrator and the medical Chief of Staff. Only "suits" are seen up there, no one in scrubs. I've never seen this person and probably never will.
What is your person in charge of all nursing called? (The Grand Poobah??)
We have a Chief Nursing Officer over all nursing departments. Her office is in administration, but she is frequently on the floor and will WORK on the floor if needed.
Each division (Critical care, Maternal child, etc) has a Director. There are Clinical Supervisors who answer to the director and manage one department. For instance, one Critical Care Director has 4 Clinical Supervisors - ED, ICU, IMC and CV-ICU.
Sometimes I think we have more chiefs than indians, but that is how it is around here.
Yes, in large hospitals each department may have a director for its own nursing staff, but the facility overall will still have a DON, DNS or (the more recent and incredibly preposterous term) Chief Nursing Officer -- born of the trend toward corporate "chiefdoms": CEO, CFO, COO, etc. Indeed, too many "chiefs" and not enough indians.
pennyaline
348 Posts
Yes, in large hospitals each department may have a director for its own nursing staff, but the facility overall will still have a DON, DNS or (the more recent and incredibly preposterous term) Chief Nursing Officer -- born of the trend toward corporate "chiefdoms": CEO, CFO, COO, etc. Indeed, too many "chiefs" and not enough indians.