Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital

Position Summary

Associate Chief Nursing Officer

Location: Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital

Address: 4000 Lakeland Highlands Road, Lakeland, FL 33812

The Orlando Health System of Care includes award-winning hospitals and ERs, specialty institutes, urgent care centers, primary care practices and outpatient facilities that span Florida’s east to west coasts, Central Alabama and Puerto Rico. Collectively, our dedicated team members honor our over 100-year legacy by providing professional and compassionate care to the patients, families and communities we serve. Join us!

Combining the collective strengths of two powerhouse organizations, Orlando Health and the high-quality physicians at Watson Clinic are expanding access to award-winning specialty care for patients in Polk County and beyond.

Opening in summer 2026,
Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital – a state-of-the-art, seven-story, multi-specialty hospital – will serve as a vital 550,000 square-foot healthcare hub offering:

• 300+ inpatient beds and 69 emergency and observation beds
• 11 operating rooms and four cardiac interventional suites
• Dedicated labor and delivery services – including a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that will debut shortly after the hospital opens
• Comprehensive cardiovascular, neurology, and oncology services
• Advanced surgical procedures

Join us in shaping the future of healthcare in Polk County as part of the Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital opening team and share in the privilege of saying you were there from the very beginning.

The Associate Chief Nursing Officer (ACNO) is a member of the administrative team and will serve on various committees of the hospital, while collaborating with the Orlando Health leadership, Hospital President, Administration, Hospital management team, Hospital medical staff leadership, and the medical staff. The ACNO plans, leads, organizes, directs & evaluates the delivery of patient care to achieve sustained outcomes. Key components of this leadership role include monitoring of quality, patient satisfaction, and budgeting standards, while managing to achieve hospital and organization wide goals.

• Ensures that a continuous improvement approach is implemented to measure actual performance against established standards for clinical and non-clinical services throughout the hospital and organization.
• Develops and implements mechanisms to ensure a uniform quality of nursing and patient care wherever nursing and patient care is provided.
• Ensures a method to monitor customer satisfaction with respect to services delivered, utilizing corporate and/or unit specific tools.
• Establishes mechanisms to encourage research and to incorporate research findings into standards of care and policies and procedures.
• Measures actual budgetary performance (revenue, expense, staffing) against standards, and ensures variances are within established targets.
• Evaluates performance of persons reporting to the position against organizational, departmental, and personal goals and objectives.
• Ensures that safety, health, and regulatory standards are attained in the divisions assigned.
• Ensures that a program is maintained to encourage the recruitment and retention of high-quality team members.
• Participates in professional, collegiate, and community activities.
• Develops/ implements personal goals/objectives that support the organization’s strategic/operating plans and patient care services.
• Assures that professional nursing standards are effectively carried out throughout hospital.
• Provides accountability and coordination of nursing services within the hospital.
• Establishes budget requirements and maintains areas of responsibility within budgetary limitation.
• Speaks on behalf of hospital allied nursing services in established meetings of hospital leadership, medical staff, and governing bodies.
• Develops staff to make effective decisions and delegates authority to lowest appropriate level.
• Demonstrates knowledge of legal issues related to nursing services, and manages situations to reduce risk to patients, staff, and the…