A director of nursing (DON) is a
registered nurse who supervises the care of all the
patient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...
s at a
health care
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
facility. The director of nursing has special training beyond the training of a staff nurse for the position that pertains to health care management, and in some places, a director of nursing must hold a special license in order to be employed in that capacity.
The director of nursing is one of the seven directors at a typical health care facility. The other are the directors of
food (or dietary) services,
social work
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
, activities, business management, housekeeping/laundry, and maintenance. In most facilities, the director of nursing is only second to the facility's
administrator, and will fill in during the administrator's absence.
In some facilities, there is also an assistant director of nursing (ADON) who backs up the director of nursing, especially in the DON's absence or off-hours.
The director of nursing is the one who is responsible for communicating between the nursing staff and the
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
s at a health care facility. It is the director of nursing who communicates to physicians the needs of the patients.
The director of nursing has the duty of testifying in any criminal or civil legal cases that arise out of the nursing care at the facility and can be held legally liable in the event that his/her own negligence in practice was responsible for a mishap at a facility resulting in death or personal injury to a patient.
Related laws
United States
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, federal OBRA regulations set the requirements for directors of nursing.
The director of nursing is a
full-time
Full-time or Full Time may refer to:
* Full-time job, employment in which a person works a minimum number of hours defined as such by their employer
* Full-time mother, a woman whose work is running or managing her family's home
* Full-time fat ...
position. Either one person can work in this position for 35 hours in a week, or two or more registered nurses can fulfill the duties for a combined 40 hours in a week.
Duties
The duties of a director of nursing may be as follows:
*Development and implementation of nursing policy and procedure. These must be aimed at preventing accidents at the facility.
[Long-term care and the law: a legal guide for health care professionals By George D. Pozgar: Page 200]
*Overseeing the hiring and continued employment of nursing staff
*Ensuring there is adequate nursing staff, and that the staff's skills remain current
*Communicating the needs of the residents of the facility to the physicians
*Overseeing nursing employee conduct
*Being a witness at a trial in the event of litigation
*Being knowledgeable of incidents at the facility
*Assessing the health needs of each resident
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Director Of Nursing (Long Term Care Facility)
Nursing specialties
Management occupations