Assistant Director of Nursing in Chattanooga, Tennessee at Focus Healthcare of Tennessee LLC

Position Summary

The Assistant Director of Nursing supports the Director of Nursing in leading safe, compliant, patient-centered nursing services across the facility's Substance Use Disorder and Eating Disorder programs. This role provides day-to-day oversight of both units, supervises the Staffing Coordinator, helps align staffing with patient acuity and program needs, and serves as a visible clinical resource for nursing leaders and frontline staff. The ADON promotes trauma-informed, recovery-oriented care; strengthens coordination among nursing, medical, psychiatric, nutritional, and therapeutic teams; and may act on behalf of the Director of Nursing when assigned. Typical work schedule is M-F 8:30a-5:30p, but some on-call or unexpected shift work may be necessary.

· Partner with the Director of Nursing to coordinate daily nursing operations and maintain consistent standards of care across the Substance Use Disorder and Eating Disorder units.

· Round on nursing units, identify clinical and operational concerns, support timely resolution, and communicate significant issues to the Director of Nursing and Administrator.

· Guide unit leaders and nursing staff in prioritizing patient needs, completing assignments, following treatment and nursing care plans, and maintaining effective shift-to-shift communication.

· Assist with admissions, transfers, discharges, changes in condition, incident follow-up, emergency response, and other high-risk or time-sensitive clinical processes.

· Support unit-specific nursing practices, including withdrawal and intoxication monitoring, medication-assisted treatment coordination, suicide and self-harm precautions, medical stability monitoring, eating-disorder protocols, meal and post-meal support, and escalation of abnormal findings within the nurse's scope and facility policy.

· Responding to medical records requests, making patient appointments, and submitting FMLA/disability paperwork as needed.

· Participate in the nursing leadership on-call rotation and provide leadership coverage as assigned.

· Directly supervise, coach, and evaluate the Staffing Coordinator, including establishing priorities, reviewing work quality, and ensuring timely communication with nursing leadership and staff.

· Review staffing plans, schedules, call-outs, open shifts, overtime, agency use, and daily staffing levels; work with the Staffing Coordinator and nursing leaders to address coverage needs promptly.

· Help ensure staffing decisions reflect patient census, acuity, observation levels, program schedules, required competencies, skill mix, budget expectations, facility policy, and applicable requirements.

· Support recruitment, onboarding, orientation, attendance management, scheduling practices, and retention efforts for nursing personnel.

· Monitor staffing trends and provide the Director of Nursing with practical recommendations to improve coverage, reduce avoidable overtime and agency reliance, and strengthen continuity of care.

· Promote compliance with professional standards, facility policies, infection prevention practices, patient rights, privacy requirements, and applicable federal, state, and local requirements.

· Assist with audits, quality assurance and performance improvement activities, survey readiness, plans of correction, and monitoring of corrective actions.

· Review clinical documentation and care delivery for accuracy, timeliness, and consistency with assessments, provider orders, observation levels, treatment plans, and nursing plans of care.

· Participate in investigations and follow-up related to incidents, grievances, allegations, medication or treatment variances, and changes in resident outcomes.

· Monitor behavioral-health and medical quality priorities such as medication safety, withdrawal complications, elopement risk, suicide and self-harm precautions, falls, emergency transfers, eating-disorder medical instability, infection prevention, and other assigned outcomes.

· Help maintain safe medication, controlled-substance, contraband, search, belongings, and environmental-safety processes in accordance with policy and law.

· Provide clear direction, coaching, education, and performance feedback to nursing employees while reinforcing accountability and respectful teamwork.

· Assist with competency validation, in-service education, performance evaluations, counseling, and corrective action in coordination with the Director of Nursing and Human Resources.

· Facilitate or participate in nursing meetings, interdisciplinary care discussions, morning clinical meetings, and other operational huddles.

· Build constructive relationships with patients, families, prescribers, therapists, dietitians, pharmacy, laboratory partners, utilization review, admissions, administration, and other departments.

· Model professionalism, confidentiality, sound judgment, and a calm, solutions-focused approach.

· Current, unrestricted nurse license to practice in the state of Tennessee.

· At least two to three years of nursing experience, including one year in a supervisory or nursing leadership role.

· Experience in behavioral health, substance use disorder treatment, eating disorder treatment, psychiatric nursing, acute care, or a closely related setting.

· Current CPR or Basic Life Support certification, if required by facility policy or applicable regulation.

· Working knowledge of clinical documentation, care planning, staffing, quality improvement, and regulatory compliance.

· Ability to lead employees, manage competing priorities, communicate clearly, maintain confidentiality, and respond effectively to urgent situations.

· Ability to use electronic health records, scheduling systems, email, and standard office technology.

· Licensed Practical Nurse

· Prior ADON, nurse manager, behavioral health, substance use disorder, eating disorder, detoxification, staff development, infection prevention, or quality assurance experience.

· Knowledge of trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, withdrawal-management protocols, suicide-risk precautions, and eating-disorder medical monitoring.

· Experience supervising a staffing or scheduling function.

Clinical judgment | Behavioral health nursing leadership | Trauma-informed care | Staffing and scheduling oversight | Regulatory readiness | Quality improvement | Crisis response | Coaching and accountability | Interdisciplinary collaboration | Patient and family communication | Organization and follow-through

The employee must be able to perform the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation. The role may require prolonged standing and walking, bending, reaching, assisting with patient care, responding to behavioral or medical emergencies, and lifting or moving up to facility-approved weight in accordance with safe patient-handling practices. The employee may be exposed to infectious materials, emotionally charged situations, and other conditions typical of a behavioral healthcare environment and must follow required safety and protective measures. Regular and reliable attendance, schedule flexibility, and participation in on-call coverage may be required.

· Maintains safe, organized, trauma-informed, and responsive nursing operations across both programs.

· Ensures staffing processes are timely, accurate, equitable, and aligned with patient acuity, observation needs, and program schedules.

· Addresses concerns promptly, escalates significant risks appropriately, and completes assigned follow-up.

· Supports strong clinical outcomes, survey readiness, employee development, patient experience, and continuity between nursing and the interdisciplinary treatment team.

This description summarizes the primary responsibilities of the position and is not intended to list every duty. Responsibilities may change based on patient needs, facility operations, and applicable requirements. Focus Healthcare provides equal employment opportunities in accordance with applicable law and considers reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. Employment requirements, licensure standards, background checks, health screenings, and compensation disclosures should be reviewed for compliance with the laws and policies applicable to the facility's location.