Head Nurse for the Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn Treatment

Would you like to be part of the leadership of a highly specialized department in a health service undergoing change? The Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn Care at Rigshospitalet is seeking a chief nurse with a desire to work with plastic surgery within the framework of the Health Reform, together with Rigshospitalet's vision of through transformation becoming smaller, leaner and deeper, while benefiting the individual patient and the overall health system.

Together with the chief physician you will facilitate that the entire department participates in creating cohesion between Rigshospitalet's strategic direction, the department's professional ambitions and the daily task execution. As the department's top management you are responsible for attracting, attaching and developing staff, ensuring stable operations with high quality and at the same time developing both professionalism and the way we solve tasks. There is also an expectation of collaboration on national and international treatment capacity with Nordic and European partners.

You step into a department characterized by high professionalism, strong research and educational environments, as well as extensive interdisciplinary collaboration. At the same time, the healthcare system faces significant changes with new requirements for organization, collaboration, technology and resource use. In this context you will play a central role in translating strategic ambitions into solutions that create value for patients, staff and the overall health service.

About the department The Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn Care is one of HovedOrtoCentrets (HOC) smaller departments with about 100 employees, with a flat management structure. The department is characterized by several highly specialized treatments, with national functions within plastic surgery, reconstructive surgery and burn care.

The department handles some of the country’s most specialized patient pathways and is characterized by high professional quality, strong research and educational environments as well as close collaboration across specialties and professional groups both at and outside Rigshospitalet. The tasks range from advanced patient treatment to research, innovation and development of future treatment and patient pathways.

The Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn Care, together with the rest of Rigshospitalet, faces a number of organizational and treatment challenges. This includes work on the Future Outpatient Clinic, where treatments that today provide no or little value to the patient should be identified and either changed or phased out. At the same time there must be a balance between Rigshospitalet's wish to become smaller and the department's need for a stable and qualified staff to carry the highly specialized treatments.

Finally, the department's disaster preparedness must be developed at the departmental, center and hospital level.

The department must also continuously meet the expectations, requirements and rules set by the surrounding society and Rigshospitalet. This includes compliance with patient rights (e.g., diagnostic and treatment guarantee, cancer packages), the hospital's SKAL tasks, specialist physician limits, innovation and development, within the given financial framework.

The Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn Care also faces a separate issue regarding retention of both nursing and medical staff, as the department must operate in a society with a large private sector, with the staffing opportunities that exist there.

About the position As chief nurse you will assume a significant managerial responsibility in a department with high complexity and large ambitions.

You will contribute to ensuring high quality in patient treatment, sustainable operations, attractive workplaces and continued development of the department's overall task execution. At the same time you are expected to actively contribute to the department's strategic agendas, in HovedOrtoCentret and at Rigshospitalet.

This includes implementing the Health Reform, the merger of the two regions in Zealand into Region of East Denmark and the development of health care close to the citizen in a highly specialized specialty. Finally, you will help strengthen the common chain of responsibility for treatment, research, innovation and education in Region East Denmark, across the five Danish university hospitals and in the Nordic cooperation.

Your main tasks will include, among others

• ensure high quality, patient safety and coherent patient pathways
• support an efficient and sustainable operation with focus on activity, capacity and resources
• develop the organization, workflows and patient pathways in line with the health service's needs
• create frameworks for leadership, well-being, learning and competence development
• support research, innovation and education
• contribute to the center's and hospital's overall development

Leadership role We are seeking a chief nurse who can help set direction, create followership and translate strategic goals into concrete results.

You work in a holistic manner and can balance considerations for patients, staff, quality, operations and resources. You can navigate a complex organization with many stakeholders and create progress through dialogue, involvement and clear priorities.

As a leader you are visible, trust-evoking and collaborative. You take responsibility for the whole and actively contribute to the shared leadership responsibility in the department, HovedOrtoCentret and at Rigshospitalet.

We are looking for a chief nurse who

• has management experience, preferably from a complex organization
• can lead through managers and achieve results through others
• has a strategic view and organizational impact
• can navigate safely between operations, development and economics
• has strong relational and communicative competences
• works trust-based and creates engagement and followership
• has focus on quality, patient safety and patient pathways
• sees collaboration as a prerequisite for creating sustainable solutions

We offer A central chief position at Rigshospitalet with responsibility in a department with highly specialized functions, strong professional environments and significant research activity.

You will become part of an ambitious management environment and have the opportunity to influence the development of both the department, HovedOrtoCentret and the overall health system. The position provides substantial managerial freedom and the opportunity to contribute to the changes that will shape the health system of the future.

Employment terms Employment is in accordance with the applicable collective agreement and agreements for managers in the Capital Region of Denmark.

Further information about the position can be obtained from center service director Pernille Roland at tel. 6113 0629 or chief physician Michael Vestergaard Thomsen at tel. 3445 8979.

Application deadline: November 16, 2026.

We expect to conduct the first interview on November 24 during the period 8:00 – 12:00. We expect to conduct the second interview in the period 12:00 – 14:45.