Residence Requirements:

RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS: THERE ARE NO RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THIS EXAMINATION. There is one vacancy at the Erie County Medical Center Corporation.

Examples of Duties:

A Vice President of Medical/Surgical Nursing Services directs the operation of Medical/ Surgical Nursing at the Erie County Medical Center Corporation (ECMCC);

Evaluates medical/surgical systems through which patient care is rendered, maintains optimal standards, monitors standard and policy compliance and implements appropriate changes;

Establishes and monitors performance improvement programming for Medical Surgical Nursing;

Participates in the selection of competency indicators and ensures competencies are completed by assigned staff;

Ensures departmental compliance with requirements of regulatory and accreditation agencies;

Evaluates, determines and assigns staffing patterns that provide maximum utilization of personnel within the Medical/Surgical Nursing Services;

Researches new concepts and patterns for the assignment of nursing units;

Makes recommendations on the hiring, promotion and discharge of personnel;

Counsels personnel on problems that cannot be settled at the supervisor level;

Participates in labor relation meetings, negotiations, grievances and arbitrations;

Identifies learning needs of staff and ensures participation of staff in orientation, in-service education and continuing education programs;

Promotes and participates in research studies and/or utilization of evidence-based practice;

Reviews and recommends personnel policies and work rules for Medical/Surgical Nursing Services;

Prepares budget recommendations for areas of responsibility;

Monitors program performance and establishes a system of data retrieval;

Monitors length of stay and works collaboratively to ensure that the interdisciplinary team works proactively in assuring optimal clinical outcomes.

Qualifications:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Candidates must meet one of the following requirements on or before the date of the written test:

Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and a Master’s Degree in Nursing, Business or an administrative field and five years of professional registered nursing experience, and at least three years which were in a supervisory* or administrative** capacity in a hospital inpatient medical/surgical or acute care setting.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT:

Possession of a license and current registration to practice as a Professional Registered Nurse in New York State at the time of appointment; maintenance of license and registration throughout duration of appointment.

Notes:

NOTES:  1. *Supervision – Responsible direction and control of subordinate employees.  This involves the assignment of work, approval of work, training, evaluation and discipline of employees.  The supervisory aspects must be an integral part of the job, not incidental or occasional. 2.**Administrative experience is defined as the responsible planning, management and control functions of an organization or organizational unit including the development and /or approval of operating policy and procedure  3.  Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting full-time experience requirements.  4. Your degree and/or college credit must have been awarded by a regionally accredited college or university or one recognized by the New York State Education Department as following acceptable educational practices.  A grade of “D” or better is necessary for a course to be credited as successfully completed.  If your degree and/or college credit was awarded by an educational institution outside of theUnited States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency.  You can write to this Department for a list of acceptable companies providing this service; you must pay the required evaluation fee.

The New York State Department of Civil Service has not prepared a test guide for this examination. However,candidates may find information in the publication "How to take a written test" helpful in preparing for this test. This publication is available on line at: www.cs.ny.gov/testing/localtestguides.cfm

Subjects of Examination:

Subjects of Examination: A written test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas:

1. Administrative supervision

These questions test for knowledge of the principles and practices involved in directing the activities of a large subordinate staff, including subordinate supervisors. Questions relate to the personal interactions between an upper level supervisor and his/her subordinate supervisors in the accomplishment of objectives. These questions cover such areas as assigning work to and coordinating the activities of several units, establishing and guiding staff development programs, evaluating the performance of subordinate supervisors, and maintaining relationships with other organizational sections.

2. Administration

These questions test for knowledge of the managerial functions involved in directing an organization or an organizational segment. These questions cover such areas as: developing objectives and formulating policies; making decisions based on the context of the administrator's position and authority; forecasting and planning; organizing; developing personnel; coordinating and informing; guiding and leading; testing and evaluating; and budgeting.

3. Preparing written material

These questions test for the ability to present information clearly and accurately, and to organize paragraphs logically and comprehensibly. For some questions, you will be given information in two or three sentences followed by four restatements of the information. You must then choose the best version. For other questions, you will be given paragraphs with their sentences out of order. You must then choose, from four suggestions, the best order for the sentences.

4. Understanding and interpreting written material

These questions test how well you comprehend written material. You will be provided with brief reading selections and will be asked questions about the selections. All the information required to answer the questions will be presented in the selections; you will not be required to have any special knowledge relating to the subject areas of the selections.

NOTICE TO CANDIDATES:  Unless otherwise noted, candidates are permitted to use quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculators.  Devices with typewriter keyboards, "Spell Checkers", “Personal Digital Assistants", "Address Books", "Language Translators", "Dictionaries", or any similar devices are prohibited.  You may not bring books or other reference materials.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $20.00 filing fee is required for this exam. The required fee must accompany your application. Send or bring check or money order made payable to Erie County Personnel Department and write the examination number(s) on your check or money order. Do not send or bring cash, as the County cannot be responsible for cash payment. As no refund will be made, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.