How do you find candidates who aren't even looking?

Most of the directors we place aren't looking. We know who they are because we've been talking to them for years. When your seat opens, we don't post it on a job board and hope — we pick up the phone and call the three or four people who fit, and see who's ready to move.

What credentials should I expect from the candidates you send?

It depends on the seat. A Director of Surgical Services typically holds a BSN with CNOR behind their name. OR Managers and PACU leaders carry CNOR or CPAN. Surgical Techs hold CST. We also look at what they've actually done — robotic programs they've stood up, turnover minutes they've cut, satisfaction numbers they've moved. The credential gets them in the room. The track record is what we ask about.

Why not just use our internal HR team or a generalist agency?

Your internal team recruits for surgical leadership once every few years and starts from scratch each time. A generalist recruiter is juggling IT, finance, and nursing roles in the same week — they can't tell you the difference between a CNOR and a CST. We run six to twelve surgical searches at any given time. That's all we do, so we know the market, the going rates, and who's open to a move.

How fast can you actually get someone in front of us?

The Director of Surgery market is one of the most competitive in healthcare right now — strong leaders are rarely sitting idle, and the ones who are open to a move get picked up fast. We don't promise a specific timeline because every search is different, but we don't start from zero. We already know who fits your OR volume, trauma level, and case mix, so Day 1 is spent reaching out, not building a list. From there, how quickly someone lands in front of you depends on the market, the candidate's situation, and how fast your team can move on interviews.

Do candidates pay anything to work with you?

No. The hiring hospital or health system covers the fee. Candidates submit a resume and book a confidential call at no cost. We represent the candidate to the employer — they never pay us.

What's the difference between permanent and interim placement?

Permanent placement is a direct-hire search for a long-term leadership role — your next Director of Surgical Services. Interim is a short-term fix: an experienced leader who steps in for a leave, a gap, or while you run a permanent search. We handle both, for hospital ORs and ambulatory surgery centers.

Who leads Surgical Nurse Recruiter?

Surgical Nurse Recruiter is led by Chris Monroe, Founder & CEO. The firm is a division of The Clinical Recruiter, based in Franklin, Tennessee, serving hospitals, health systems, and ambulatory surgery centers across the United States.

Patient Safety

Chris Monroe 2026-03-05

Surgical Site Infection Prevention: Why Discipline Beats Checklists Every Time

The Clinical Recruiter

Surgical site infections are not subtle. When a patient develops a deep incisional SSI after a clean elective case, the cost is measured in extended stays, readmissions, additional procedures, and real harm to a person who came in expecting to heal. For a large surgical program, preventable SSIs add up to millions of dollars annually — and they are almost always traceable to a breakdown in process, not a breakdown in skill.

The programs that consistently beat SSI metrics do not have longer checklists. They have better discipline. The Universal Protocol and Surgical Time-Out are not paperwork. They are structured verifications — correct patient, correct site, correct procedure — that prevent the wrong-site, wrong-procedure errors that destroy lives and careers. A leader who treats the time-out as a formality is a leader who has not yet been burned by what happens when it is skipped.

Sterile field discipline is non-negotiable. Traffic control in the OR, proper gowning and gloving, instrument handling, and immediate recognition of contamination are the daily interventions that keep the field intact. The circulating nurse is the guardian of that field, and a strong leader empowers them to stop the case when integrity is at risk — without fear of surgeon pushback.

Environmental controls matter more than most people realize. OR HVAC, positive air pressure, humidity, and ambient temperature are engineered to prevent airborne contamination. When those systems drift out of spec, the risk climbs quietly. The right perioperative leader monitors those parameters, documents compliance, and escalates facility issues before they become infection clusters.

When we recruit perioperative leaders, we look for people who have built these safety cultures — not just participated in them. The difference between a nurse who follows a timeout checklist and a leader who designs an SSI reduction program is the difference between compliance and transformation. We find the transformers.

Chris Monroe

The Clinical Recruiter

Former hospital CEO with 23 years of healthcare leadership experience, from food service worker to the executive suite. Chris founded The Clinical Recruiter to connect hospitals with surgical and perioperative leaders who understand the financial weight of every OR turn-time.

OR Utilization and Block Management: Every Unused Minute Has a Price Tag Robotic Surgery Programs: The Capital ROI Most Hospitals Mismanage

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