Chief Nurse Executive Salaries in the United States

At the top of nursing management positions within a healthcare organization is the position of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) or sometimes referred to as Chief Nurse Executive (CNE).

Chief Nursing Officers should also be detail-oriented with good organizational skills to keep meticulous records, stick to a tight budget, and create accurate reports for the executive team.

DNP nurses in administration and executive leadership positions are capable of promoting innovative approaches to problems in highly complex healthcare environments, exploring technologies that embrace efficiency, and overseeing patient safety, patient and staff satisfaction, and cost factors.

It is a common expectation that a nurse aspiring to be a CNO will have 5+ years of managerial experience before pursuing an executive administrative role.

However, since there's usually just one Chief Nursing Officer in a system, competition between nurse managers for available positions could be fierce.