NMC is currently recruiting a full-time, Nurse Manager in the Operating Room. Northwestern Medical Center’s mission is to provide exceptional health care to our community. Join our high reliability team! With “people” as one of our core values, valuing our employees is a top priority for Northwestern. We care about our employees, their families, and their overall health & well-being. We are proud to offer a generous benefits package, with recognized national carriers, designed to help our people stay healthy, balance work & life responsibilities, protect your assets & plan for a secure financial future.
Salary: $93,808 USD to $131,060.80 USD
Operating Room Nurse Manager
Reporting to the Director of Surgical Services, the Operating Room Nurse Manager provides day-to-day leadership for a five-room operating suite in a community hospital setting. This role is responsible for safe, efficient OR operations; staff scheduling, development, and performance; surgeon and anesthesia collaboration; regulatory readiness; patient experience; surgical throughput; resource stewardship; and continuous improvement in quality, access, productivity, and cost performance.
Key performance expectations include reliable daily operations, safe patient flow, effective staff deployment, regulatory compliance, timely communication, physician and staff engagement, and data-driven improvement in access, quality, utilization, productivity, and financial stewardship.
PRE-REQUISITES:
Education and Licensure: Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, or related field required. Current RN licensure in the State of Vermont is required. Master’s degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, or related field preferred.
Preferred Certifications: CNOR, CSSM, NE-BC, or related perioperative or nursing leadership certification preferred.
Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of perioperative nursing experience strongly preferred. Minimum of two (2) years of progressive leadership experience in surgical services required; five (5) years of management experience preferred. Community hospital surgical services experience and familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, or other process-improvement methods preferred.
Special Skills: Strong perioperative clinical operations, communication, collaboration, conflict-resolution, change-management, and interpersonal skills. Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities, support surgeon and anesthesia relationships, lead daily huddles, use data to improve performance, and apply Lean or other continuous-improvement methods in a regulatory-ready surgical services environment.
RELATIONSHIPS:
Reports To: Director of Surgical Services
Supervises: Operating Room nursing staff, surgical technologists, OR assistants, support staff, and other assigned perioperative team members.
Other Contacts: Medical staff, anesthesia providers, advanced practice providers, perioperative team members, sterile processing, pre-op and PACU staff, inpatient units, emergency department, quality and infection prevention teams, materials management, vendors, patients, families, visitors, and other hospital employees.
SCOPE:
Machinery or Equipment Used: Computer, telephone, copier, fax, surgical scheduling and electronic health record systems, OR communication tools, patient monitors, surgical and perioperative equipment, emergency equipment, and other clinical or administrative equipment used in daily OR operations.
Physical Demands: Prolonged standing and walking. Lifts, positions, pushes, and transfers patients with assistance as appropriate. Lifts and moves supplies and equipment. Requires reaching, stooping, bending, kneeling, crouching, and sustained attention during surgical procedures and patient positioning.
Working Conditions: May be exposed to bloodborne pathogens, infectious diseases, chemicals, surgical smoke, radiation when applicable, flammable gases, electro-mechanical hazards, and unpredictable patient-care situations. Handles emergency or crisis situations, frequent interruptions, staffing changes, and time-sensitive operational decisions. May be subject to irregular hours, call coverage needs, and occasional travel.
Required Protective Equipment: Eye protection, face protection, mask, gown, lab coat, non-sterile medical gloves, sterile medical gloves, utility gloves, lead aprons, and lead vests.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
1. Provides daily leadership for safe, efficient OR operations and patient-centered surgical flow.
- Reviews the daily surgical schedule, room utilization, staffing assignments, case needs, add-on activity, and anticipated barriers to support on time starts, efficient turnover, and safe patient flow.
- Coordinates with charge staff, sterile processing, anesthesia, surgeons, pre-op, PACU, supply chain, and ancillary departments to resolve delays, equipment needs, patient safety concerns, and changes in case volume.
- Provides real-time leadership, clinical support, coaching, and problem-solving for nurses, surgical technologists, support staff, and charge staff.
- Promotes compliance with organizational policies, infection prevention practices, sterile technique, documentation standards, universal protocol, time-out expectations, AORN standards, CMS Conditions of Participation, The Joint Commission requirements, OSHA standards, and applicable state and federal regulations.
2. Manages staffing operations to support safe, efficient OR performance.
- Oversees recruitment, onboarding, retention, coaching, corrective action, daily assignments, call coverage, timekeeping readiness, and payroll-related follow-up for OR staff.
- Aligns staffing and labor management with case volume, acuity, specialty mix, staff competencies, orientation needs, and safe patient care requirements.
- Supports performance feedback, competency completion, education planning, professional growth, and reliable communication through huddles and staff updates.
3. Leads staff development, competency, and professional growth.
- Role models perioperative best practices and maintains the clinical knowledge needed to support safe OR operations, staff coaching, and regulatory-ready care.
- Assesses staff learning needs, orientation progress, competency completion, certification readiness, in-service needs, and opportunities for cross-training or specialty skill development.
- Develops and supports individualized staff development plans that include performance feedback, professional goals, succession planning, leadership growth, and career advancement when appropriate.
- Partners with educators, charge nurses, clinical leaders, and Surgical Services leadership to coordinate education, competency validation, mock drills, new equipment training, and practice updates.
4. Oversees equipment, supplies, facilities, and resource stewardship.
- Ensures facilities, equipment, instruments, supplies, implants, and materials are available and maintained to support efficient, safe, and regulatory-ready surgical care.
- Partners with sterile processing, materials management, vendors, biomedical engineering, and perioperative staff to address repair, replacement, preference-card accuracy, inventory issues, and operational barriers.
- Assesses supply and equipment trends, service contracts, purchasing considerations, supply standardization, inventory issues, capital needs, and cost-saving opportunities while maintaining readiness for scheduled and specialty procedures.
- Participates in capital equipment planning and justification processes in collaboration with Surgical Services leadership, materials management, finance, and clinical stakeholders.
5. Leads communication, change management, and team engagement.
- Communicates proactively during change by reaffirming goals, addressing concerns, reducing rumors, and maintaining an open, responsive leadership presence.
- Identifies and resolves workflow, team, or individual barriers that affect engagement, collaboration, reliability, or adoption of new practices.
- Recognizes team successes and supports consistent communication through huddles, staff updates, education, and timely follow-up on safety or workflow concerns.
6. Uses data and recurring operational review to improve quality, safety, access, and performance.
- Reviews upcoming surgical schedules, block time, anticipated volumes, specialty service needs, staffing plans, call coverage, and scheduling constraints with perioperative and scheduling partners.
- Monitors key indicators, including first-case on-time starts, turnover times, cancellations, delays, case volume, room utilization, block utilization, productivity, quality metrics, safety trends, patient experience, labor productivity, overtime utilization, supply cost per case, and budget performance.
- Assists the Director of Surgical Services with departmental budget development and management, monitors expenses, analyzes staffing patterns and resource utilization, supports labor cost control, and identifies opportunities for operational efficiency and cost reduction.
- Follows up on incident reports, patient safety events, near misses, infection prevention concerns, documentation issues, and corrective action plans in collaboration with clinical, quality, and infection prevention leaders.
- Participates in or leads quality improvement, regulatory readiness, perioperative operations, and interdisciplinary workflow improvement efforts.
- Prepares or contributes to leadership updates regarding operational performance, staffing, quality, safety, budget, regulatory readiness, and departmental priorities.
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Equal Opportunity Employer
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