Bring your clinical insight, quality mindset, and perioperative experience to a role where improvement work has a direct effect on surgical care, frontline teams, and patient outcomes.
As a Registered Nurse (RN) Quality Improvement Coordinator with UVA Health Perioperative Services, you will help lead data-driven improvement initiatives across a complex surgical environment that includes the Main Operating Room, with collaboration across Main Pre-Op and Main PACU.
This is an opportunity for an RN who enjoys solving operational problems, working with metrics, partnering with clinical leaders, and helping build the future of perioperative quality improvement at an academic health system.
This role is designed for a nurse who can connect the realities of frontline clinical practice with structured quality improvement, analytics, and operational problem solving. You will serve as a strategic quality partner within Perioperative Services, helping identify opportunities, analyze performance data, support action planning, and validate whether improvement efforts are producing meaningful results.
In an average day, you may be reviewing quality or operational data, collaborating with Clinical Nurse Leaders and Clinical Nurse Specialists, meeting with perioperative leadership, engaging frontline teams, and helping translate an improvement opportunity into a measurable plan of action. The work is highly collaborative, intellectually engaging, and well suited for someone who enjoys both the clinical environment and the structure of formal improvement methodology.
Key areas of focus include:
Applying Lean principles, A3 thinking, current-state and future-state analysis, and structured problem-solving approaches.
Partnering closely with Clinical Nurse Leaders, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Quality Improvement Coordinators, frontline nurses, and perioperative leadership.
Supporting action plans that improve patient outcomes, operational effectiveness, team performance, and perioperative reliability.
Collaborating across the Main OR, Main Pre-Op, Main PACU, and potentially additional perioperative locations as the team expands.
This is a strong fit for an RN with experience in perioperative nursing, quality improvement, patient safety, Lean, Six Sigma, data analysis, Excel, metrics tracking, or process improvement. Operating Room experience is highly preferred, but candidates with strong quality, analytics, and improvement backgrounds in other clinical settings may also bring valuable perspective.
At UVA Health, perioperative nursing is practiced within an academic health system where clinical excellence, teaching, research, and innovation are deeply connected. For nurses who want to move beyond task-based quality work and into meaningful systems improvement, this role offers the opportunity to help shape how quality improvement is built, measured, and sustained across Perioperative Services.
UVA Health brings together the strengths of a major academic medical center, Magnet-recognized nursing, advanced surgical services, professional governance, nursing research, and a culture that supports nurses practicing at the top of their license. Within Perioperative Services, team members have access to a sophisticated surgical environment that includes Smart OR technology, robotics, integrated documentation, advanced communication tools, and a team-based approach to care.
What makes this opportunity especially compelling:
Professional development opportunities, including continuing education, evidence-based practice initiatives, and career advancement.
Opportunities to publish, present, submit abstracts, and share quality improvement outcomes through venues such as AORN conferences and the UVA Evidence-Based Practice Symposium.
Relocation assistance may be available for qualified candidates.
This is a career-building opportunity for a nurse who wants to influence care at the systems level while staying connected to the pace, complexity, and impact of perioperative practice. Your work will help improve performance where it matters most: in the surgical environment, alongside the teams delivering care, and in support of better outcomes for patients.
Why People Love Living in Charlottesville
Charlottesville offers a rare combination of professional opportunity, natural beauty, and quality of life. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains, the area gives healthcare professionals and their families easy access to hiking, wineries, local farms, music, arts, restaurants, historic sites, and a vibrant downtown community. It is large enough to offer culture, food, and energy, yet small enough to feel connected and livable. For nurses building a long-term career at UVA Health, Charlottesville offers the balance of meaningful academic healthcare work with a community-oriented lifestyle outside the hospital.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
Education: BSN required; MSN preferred.
Licensure: Current Virginia nursing licensure required.
Experience: At least 3-5 years of perioperative nursing experience with progressive quality improvement or leadership responsibilities.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
Job requires sitting for prolonged periods and repetitive motion (computer work). Proficient communicative, auditory, and visual skills; Attention to detail and ability to write legibly.
The pay range for this role is $67,859.00 - $135,718.00 annually. Individual compensation will be determined by the selected candidate's qualifications, previous work experience, and/or education.
Benefits
Comprehensive Benefits Package: Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
Paid Time Off, Long-term and Short-term Disability, Retirement Savings
Health Saving Plans, and Flexible Spending Accounts
Certification and education support
Generous Paid Time Off
UVA Health is a world-class Magnet Recognized academic medical center and health system with a level 1 trauma center. 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” guide rates UVA Health University Medical Center as “High Performing” in 5 adult specialties and 14 conditions/procedures. We are one of 70 National Cancer Institute designated cancer centers. UVA Health Children’s is named by 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report as the best children's hospital in Virginia with 9 specialties ranked among the best in the nation. Our footprint also encompasses 3 community hospitals and an integrated network of primary and specialty care clinics throughout Charlottesville, Culpeper, Northern Virginia, and beyond.
The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.
