Jill S. Doran resigned Wednesday as chief nursing officer of the Juan F. Luis Hospital, the hospital announced.
“The opportunities that were afforded me as chief nursing officer, while challenging, were invaluable, and I have learned and grown from them," she said in a letter to hospital Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Nelson.
Only weeks ago Doran celebrated her first anniversary in the job. She took the post Oct. 12, 2010. She has more than 20 years of nursing experience.
Doran said the decision to step down was difficult, and said she fully supports the goal of becoming the most trusted, patient-family centered healthcare system in the Caribbean by 2020, and the strategic directions being taken to accomplish it. For that reason, she said she will assist with the transition of the nursing leadership to an interim chief nursing officer, who will be selected shortly.
The chief nursing position is directly responsible for the leadership, delivery and organization-wide quality of nursing care, treatment, and services, the hospital said in a statement. In the health care delivery system, the chief nursing officer is vital to the establishment of a cohesive and collaborative nursing care team, and ultimately, to the hospital that wishes to maintain safe, quality patient care.
“Ms. Doran has demonstrated great leadership during her tenure at JFL and a passion for improving the quality of health care for the people of the Virgin Islands," Nelson said. "On behalf of the JFL team, we wish her well with her future aspirations."
Doran has more than two decades of experience in a variety of medical settings, including acute and long-term care, occupational health, public health, chemical dependency and quality improvement. Before her appointment at JFL, she was the chief executive officer at the V.I. Medical Institute Inc. for more than seven years. During her tenure, VIMI was awarded the Quality Championship Award as one of the top three quality improvement organizations in the country.