In any health care facility, whether it’s a large hospital or a small medical practice, nurses perform an invaluable function. Their role may encompass anything from conducting diagnostic tests to administering treatments. Furthermore, nurses often serve as liaisons between patients and providers, ensuring clear communication about treatment plans.
For nurses to fulfill their important duties, they need an environment that sets them up for success. That’s where the chief nursing officer, or CNO, comes into play. In many hospitals and even larger practices and clinics, the CNO provides leadership to the entire nursing team, creating a clinical context in which nurses can care for patients as effectively as possible.
The role of the CNO has always been important, and it’s becoming more critical all the time. Health care organizations across the board have warned of a looming nursing shortage as the U.S. population ages, health concerns become more acute, and the health care environment becomes more fragmented. CNOs play an important role in mitigating the impact of the shortage, both through recruitment and through efficient staffing.
Becoming a chief nursing officer is one way to make a positive impact on the health care industry and play a direct role in improving patient outcomes. This article explores the position’s key responsibilities and outlines how to become a chief nursing officer by highlighting some preliminary steps that can be taken toward a career as a nurse leader.
What Is a Chief Nursing Officer?
At the most basic level, a chief nursing officer is tasked with overseeing a nursing team’s day-to-day operations. Executing this primary task depends on key relationships with various stakeholders, such as nurses, providers, patients, and board members.
For example, the CNO may serve as an intermediary between the nursing staff and hospital administrators. As the spokesperson for all nurses in the facility, the CNO communicates resource allocation and staffing needs to the hospital’s leadership and lets it know how policies or procedures could be amended to allow nurses to more effectively care for patients.
At the same time, the CNO receives administrative ground rules and regulations from the senior leadership. The CNO then communicates these rules to the entire nursing team and holds the nurses accountable for compliance.
The CNO role can also involve furthering relationships with providers. The CNO works with doctors and surgeons to learn what kind of support they need from hospital nurses and to schedule team members accordingly.
Depending on the hospital’s structure and organization, the CNO may also be responsible to the board of directors. In some contexts, the nurse leader must report to the board at regular intervals, providing updates on how nurses are meeting key metrics, such as patient safety, quality, and length of stay.
Ultimately, the CNO is most responsible to the patients. Any nurse leader’s overarching goal is to create an environment in which nurses can provide the highest standard of patient care and pursue the best clinical outcomes. This job might include resource allocation and budgeting, proper training and onboarding, effective scheduling, and advocacy for patient-centered hospital policies and procedures.
CNO vs. Other Executive Positions
The CNO is considered an executive-level position, which means it’s situated in the C-suite with other key positions, such as the chief executive officer (CEO) and chief operations officer (COO). It’s important for aspiring nurse leaders to understand the distinctions between these important leadership roles.
Chief Executive Officer
The hospital CEO is tasked with carrying out both short- and long-term plans and makes many of the key decisions about the hospital’s overall mission. In most hospital settings, the CEO approves the budget and helps manage risk. A successful CEO is aware of all levels of hospital operation and can extend strategic support and guidance to other management team members.
Chief Operations Officer
If the CEO is all about the big-picture strategy, the COO is more in the weeds with day-to-day operations. It falls to the COO to make sure that policies and frameworks are in place for the hospital to enjoy sustained growth. Often, COOs are involved with recruiting and hiring new leaders. They may also help lead the organization through clinical accreditation processes.
Chief Nursing Officer
The CNO’s role involves both business efficiency and clinical quality but is particularly focused on members of the nursing team. The CNO often reports to either the CEO or the COO, providing insights into how the nurses are maintaining patient safety, minimizing length of stay, curbing readmissions, and ensuring that patients have a satisfying experience.
What Does a Chief Nursing Officer Do?
CNOs support the values of the organization and advance its mission through daily management and leadership of the nurses.
The specifics of what a chief nursing officer does can vary according to the facility and the direction given by the board of directors. A CNO’s general daily duties include the following:
Communicating with Nurses and Other Clinical Care Providers
The CNO is tasked with communicating hospital priorities, procedures, and objectives to the entire nursing team. The CNO must also entertain any feedback or needs that the nurses have. This may be done through daily huddles, rounding, one-on-one meetings, or town halls. Written communication, including email updates, may also be useful.
Maintaining Clinical Care Standards
The CNO is also responsible for leading the team in producing desirable patient outcomes, including ensuring reasonable length of stay, curbing readmissions, and achieving top patient safety ratings. Rounding and spending time on the floor is essential, as it allows nurse leaders to experience firsthand the culture of care at the facility and to identify any roadblocks to efficiency.
Additionally, the CNO can pursue better outcomes by advocating to the C-suite or to the board for positive changes in hospital policy. by budgeting hospital resources more constructively, and by setting rules and strategies for the nursing team, guiding nurses in how to most effectively care for their patients.
Attending to Key Administrative Duties
The CNO also has a number of important administrative functions. One example is staying abreast of government compliance issues and the stipulations made by regulatory and accrediting boards, as well as ensuring that the hospital nurses are upholding the necessary standards. The CNO may also play a direct role in organizing or coordinating different care delivery models, such as directing an outpatient nursing or rehab facility.
Hiring and Training Nurses
The CNO is responsible for maintaining a full staff of qualified and competent nurses. As such, the CNO is likely to be actively involved in recruiting, interviewing, and hiring new nurses. This may involve developing relationships with local nursing schools, including internship programs and nurse residencies.
Additionally, the CNO must develop training infrastructures that ensure that all members of the nursing team are equipped to facilitate positive outcomes and do their jobs as effectively as possible.
Steps to Become a Chief Nursing Officer
As for how to become a chief nursing officer, the process is one of career-long development and involves several educational steps. Nurses who begin as registered nurses (RNs) or licensed practical nurses (LPNs) may advance into managerial positions, perhaps becoming nurse leaders for a particular department, service line, or shift and eventually taking on CNO responsibilities.
In pursuing this long-term career goal, nurses need to be aware of the educational requirements for a chief nursing officer and some essential certifications.
Step 1: Earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing
While it’s important for nurse leaders to have experience administering patient care, this isn’t the only skill set they need. Leading a team of nurses, answering to a board of directors, and managing potentially large budgets require a broader set of competencies, including critical thinking, problem-solving, delegation, and communication skills. They also need to be adept at understanding the fundamental concepts of nursing and care delivery. That way, they can draw leadership strategies from a nurse’s perspective, not just an administrative perspective.
For these reasons, a chief nursing officer’s education requirements are rigorous. Earning an undergraduate degree, such as a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.), is an essential first step in the process, as it helps individuals hone their nursing skills and help them understand how the skills apply in a health care context. A B.S.N. can allow students to grasp the basic duties of a nurse that can be put into practice with experience. These duties can include the following:
- Assessing and observing patients
- Recording patient symptoms and medical histories
- Administering treatment strategies
- Performing and analyzing diagnostic tests
- Explaining illness or injury management strategies
Step 2: Obtain Licensure
After earning a B.S.N., students must obtain a license to practice as a nurse in the state where they intend to pursue nursing employment. The first step in this process is to pass a test such as the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) designed to demonstrate a fundamental understanding of the nursing profession. Students can apply for licensure once they pass this test, but they should familiarize themselves with the licensure requirements in their projected state of practice prior to application.
Step 3: Gain Work Experience
Once obtaining licensure, a student can pursue a role as an RN. Nursing experience accomplishes a couple of key things on a person’s journey toward the C-suite. First, it allows the person to apply the concepts learned in a B.S.N. program to a real-world setting. Second, work experience is often needed to pursue the advanced degrees associated with the CNO role.
Step 4: Obtain an Advanced Degree
An advanced degree is considered a requirement to become a CNO, and most programs require individuals to have some professional experience in the nursing field prior to enrollment. Once this experience is obtained, a student can pursue one of two types of advanced nursing degrees. A Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) can help students advance their basic nursing skills and learn about the business side of nursing. A Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) can help individuals fortify their knowledge and skills regarding the administrative side of the profession — elements that can further prepare them for a role as a CNO.
A D.N.P. curriculum can provide a formal setting in which nurse leaders can cultivate their administrative skills, such as:
- Working collaboratively with other nurses
- Applying research to analyze patient care and population health trends
- Designing care delivery plans that are economically feasible and meet the community’s needs
Completion of a D.N.P. can help nursing professionals develop these skills and become trusted and credible leaders in their field.
Step 5: Gain Certification
In addition to education, aspiring CNOs should consider certification to further demonstrate their knowledge in nursing administration and leadership. A popular certification that can be pursued is the Certified Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML) certification. While not all CNO roles require this credential, many do. Even if it isn’t required, certification can provide professionals with a competitive advantage in the job market.
Earning CNML certification requires the completion of a comprehensive exam that touches on many aspects of nurse leadership. This is another area where pursuit of an advanced degree can help. Specifically, D.N.P. programs provide competence in financial management, human resource management, and strategic planning — all components of the CNML exam.
Chief Nursing Officer Salary
The median annual salary for a CNO is $134,200. CNOs typically have opportunities for bonuses as well as profit sharing in their organizations, according to Payscale data from July 2022.
A number of factors can determine the chief nursing officer salary:
- Education: Nurses with advanced degrees, such as a D.N.P., typically command higher salaries. The reason is the N.P.’s link to leadership jobs.
- Experience: Those who have spent more years in nurse leadership positions usually earn higher salaries.
- Location: Hospitals in major metropolitan areas often pay their nurse leaders higher salaries.
Common Chief Nursing Officer Interview Questions
Given the high levels of responsibility that a CNO holds, how to become a chief nursing officer can also involve a rigorous professional job search. Those applying for work in this field can anticipate a series of interviews, potentially with health care recruiters, members of the hospital’s executive team, and board members. One way to fare well in this interview process is to consider in advance some of the most common chief nursing officer interview questions.
Interviewers may ask any number of questions to ascertain information about the applicant’s previous work history, knowledge base, and leadership approach.
The interviewer will also seek to identify synergies between the applicant’s skill set and past achievements and the current needs of the hospital. For example, if the hospital is preparing for a major construction project, CNO applicants will likely be asked what experience they have planning for or managing renovations.
CNO interviews commonly include the following questions:
Why Do You Want to Work in This Hospital?
Different hospitals have unique challenges, opportunities, and cultures. It’s reasonable for interviewers to wonder why someone would want to work in their particular context. The answer may touch on the hospital’s size, level of independence, reputation in the community, or areas of clinical focus.
What Is Your Approach to Conflict Management?
The CNO must lead a team of nurses in providing exemplary patient care, which is achievable only when the nurses are working together as a team. The ability to manage different personalities and mediate conflicts is key for any CNO.
How Will You Create an Optimal Work Environment for Our Nursing Team?
Those applying for a CNO role should be prepared to discuss specific ways in which they’ll create a positive work environment. Answers can highlight anything from employee surveys and daily huddles to effective scheduling and budgeting.
What’s Your Philosophy in Working With Physicians?
To promote positive patient outcomes, nurses and physicians must work in tandem, putting clinical care above all else. Part of this responsibility falls to the CNO, who should be prepared to earn physicians’ trust and cultivate collaborative relationships with them.
Ideally, applicants will come prepared to share stories of when they’ve worked closely with physicians in the past; diffused tense situations; or collaborated with doctors on a successful project, such as the expansion of a service line or the integration of a new clinic.
What Are the Most Important Qualities for a Nurse to Possess?
There’s not necessarily a right or wrong answer to this question, but it may provide the interviewer with a chance to hear applicants speak about their passion for nursing and to compare the applicant’s philosophy of nursing with the hospital’s existing culture and values.
Additional Considerations for the Interview
It’s customary for CNO interviews to address issues such as expectations for salary and benefits. Applicants will want to spend some time preparing for this discussion, so they can speak to the general salary range they require to take the position.
This preparation must be done with an eye toward the industry median, as well as to such mediating factors as geographic market, experience level, and education level.
Becoming a Leader in Health Care
Leadership is an essential component in any successful health care organization. An effective leader facilitates productive, collaborative relationships between nurses, technicians, and physicians, with the end goal of promoting positive patient outcomes and making the hospital profitable. CNOs can play a significant role in delivering this level of leadership.
To move into a CNO role, advanced education can be invaluable, and a D.N.P. builds leadership qualities that last throughout a career. The University of North Dakota’s online Post-Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program provides an environment in which the nurse leaders of tomorrow can hone their skills and develop their capacity to add value to an organization. Learn more about the benefits of enrolling in this D.N.P. program today.
Recommended Reading:
BSN vs. MSN: What Are the Benefits of a Master’s in Nursing?
MSN vs. DNP: Comparing Salaries, Job Outlook and More
What Is Health Policy and What Role Does It Play in Nursing?
Sources:
Business News Daily, “How to Become a Chief Operating Officer (COO)”
Houston Chronicle, “Function & Responsibilities of a Chief Nurse”
Incredible Health, “What Is a Chief Nursing Officer?”
Indeed, Director of Nursing Interview Questions
Indeed, How to Become a Nursing Officer in 5 Steps
Indeed, What Is a Chief Nursing Officer and What Do They Do?
Investopedia, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
National Council of State Boards of Nursing, NCLEX & Other Exams