Senior Director, Communications - Nursing & Patient Care Services and Partner Relations

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The Senior Director of Nursing & Patient Care Services and Partner Relations Communications is a senior leader within Duke University Health System’s (DUHS) Communications function and serves as the strategic communications lead for the Division of Nursing and Patient Care Services (NPCS) and its external and academic partners. NPCS represents the largest segment of Duke Health’s talentforce, encompassing nurses, patient care services professionals, and advanced practice practitioners. The division spans acute, ambulatory, virtual, and home health settings and plays a critical role in advancing integrated care delivery models across multidisciplinary teams.

The Senior Director works in close partnership with the Chief Nurse Executive (CNE) to shape, articulate, and advance a comprehensive communications strategy that elevates Duke Nursing’s voice, strengthens workforce engagement, and supports systemwide priorities.

This role provides executive-level counsel to senior nursing and health system leaders and collaborates closely with DUHS Marketing, Internal Communications, Media Relations, Digital, HR, Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON), and external partners (including Watts College of Nursing) to ensure clear, aligned, and proactive communication. The Senior Director ensures communications support clinical excellence, talentforce development, innovation, patient experience, health equity, and Duke Health’s missions.

Strategic Leadership & Systemwide Collaboration

• Serve as the strategic communications lead for Nursing and Patient Care Services, ensuring alignment with DUHS priorities, operational goals, and enterprise communications strategies.
• Partner closely with the Chief Nurse Executive and NPCS senior leadership to understand key issues, opportunities, and emerging needs across nursing, patient care services, and advanced practice practitioners.
• Serve as a primary communications partner to the Chief Nurse Executive, supporting executive voice, visibility, and influence.
• Provide strategic counsel on communications related to care quality and safety, workforce strategy, professional practice, education, innovation, and patient experience.
• Ensure close coordination with Marketing, Media Relations, Internal Communications, and Digital teams to deliver a unified and timely communications approach.
• Lead integrated communications planning for large cross-functional initiatives impacting nursing, patient care services, and advanced practice practitioners.
• Use qualitative and quantitative data to guide strategy and measure effectiveness.
• Anticipate communication risks, workforce impacts, or reputational considerations and proactively design mitigation strategies.
• Drive executive communications, including leadership remarks, messaging frameworks, and narrative development, serving as a trusted advisor to the CNE and senior leaders.

Internal Communications, Workforce Engagement & Change Management

• Build and execute a comprehensive internal communications strategy that meets the needs of a diverse pool of nurses, patient care services professionals, and advance practice practitioners across all entities and settings.
• Establish governance, standards, and escalation protocols for nursing and patient care communications.
• Design and lead change communications strategies that support awareness, understanding, adoption, and sustainment of operational, clinical, and workforce initiatives.
• Translate complex clinical, operational, and workforce changes into clear, role-specific, and actionable messaging for frontline teams and leaders.
• Oversee communications across channels including intranet, newsletters, leadership toolkits, town halls, video, and executive messaging.
• Develop cascading communication assets, FAQs, and toolkits to support effective leader communication.
• Establish feedback loops to assess understanding, sentiment, and engagement, adjusting strategies as needed.

External Outreach, Partnerships & Academic Relations

• Lead communications strategy for NPCS external partnerships, including close collaboration with Duke University School of Nursing and Watts College of Nursing to support workforce pipeline development and academic alignment.
• Partner with Marketing and External Relations to drive external storytelling that supports nursing recruitment, reputation, and community engagement.
• Collaborate with Media Relations to iden