Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Expert Witness

Advanced APRN with over 16 years of experience in multiple specialties to include Critical Care medicine, Neurology, Neurosurgery and Rapid Response. Throughout multiple roles, the focus was on patient care and health promotion however also created hospital policies, served as Stroke Lead for the hospital stroke program overseeing 3 South Florida locations, developed multiple patient care improvement projects to decrease length of stay, reduce comorbidity and provide stroke education to staff, medical staff, patients, families, the community at large or internationally via hospital events or as guest speaker on television or internet radio.

SKILLS

BILINGUAL ENGLISH AND SPANISH
COMPETENT WITH MICROSOFT OFFICE

EXPERIENCE

House APRN/Rapid Response Team 04/2021-present
West Kendall Baptist Hospital
Support Hospitalist and Nursing staff
Team lead during Code Rescue and respond/initiate Code Blue Work closely with Hospitalist and Intensivist teams
Participate in interviewing, hiring and interview process.
Work directly with staff, administration, operation leadership, physicians, patient and family’s transfer quality care across continue as subject matter expert in Neurology.
ARNP competency lead for Stroke/NIH care and audit stroke cases
Ordering diagnostic exams, labs and medication as needed, staff support and identify areas of weakness and provide appropriate education.

APRN Supervisor, Neuroscience APRN and Stroke Lead
02/2020-04/2021
West Kendall Baptist Hospital
Supervise a group of House/ Rapid Response APRNs
Lead all hiring, onboarding, assist with credentialing, scheduling, payroll, mentoring, education and team development.
Work directly with staff, administration, operation leadership, physicians, patient and family’s transfer quality care across continue as subject matter expert in Neurology.
ARNP competency lead for Stroke/NIH care and audit stroke cases
Chair of Primary Stroke Committee Meeting and Advanced Practice Provider at West Kendall Baptist Hospital
Represent WKBH at System Wide Stroke Committee
Volunteer at various hospital led fairs to promote stroke care and health prevention
Complete history and physical, including examination and recommendations on the neurological cases throughout the hospital from the Hospitalist perspective.
Ordering diagnostic exams, labs and medication as needed, staff support and identify areas of weakness and provide appropriate education.
Work closely with Stroke Coordinator, ED leadership and Stroke Medical Director to keep hospital metrics at par with national requirements and best practice guidelines at West Kendall Baptist Hospital and the Off Campus Emergency Rooms.
Developed, revised and implement multiple hospital polices and protocols regarding stroke care and practice in the Emergency Room, hospital wide and at both Off Campus Emergency Rooms.
FAST education for all providers during hospital orientation

Neuroscience APRN Consultant 01/2020-present
Hawkins Hospital expert- Per Diem
Provide evidence-based practice guidelines for clinical diagnoses and scenarios.
Provide clarity of clinical verbiage, interpret diagnostic testing and assessments.

Healthcare Consultant/Speaker 2016-present
Guest speaker on multiple television and internet radio speaking on topics related to women in the medical field, Neurological issues such as stroke, COVID 19 and other health related concerns as well as health promotion.
Speaker for “Women of the future”, 2016
Health Channel- Stroke education, 2018
Health Channel -Stroke prevention and healthy living, 2018
Health Channel- Healthy living, what is an NP? 2019
BHSF /CMCR Stroke project in Dominican Republic; International Nursing and Stroke Consultant, 2020
Historias de Impacto-Enfermera durante el COVID (Historical Impacts, Nursing during COVID), 2021

Neuroscience APRN, Stroke Lead 06/2015-02/2020
West Kendall Baptist Hospital
Complete history and physical, including examination and recommendations
Clinical provider, from the Hospitalist perspective, on the neurological cases throughout the hospital.
Ordering diagnostic exams, labs and medication as needed, staff support and identify areas of weakness and provide appropriate education.
Liaison between Hospitalist and Neurology team.
Collaborated and lead a team of medical s6taff that included Neurosurgery, Neuro interventional and Neuroradiology at Baptist Health South Florida
Work closely with stroke coordinator to keep hospital metrics at par with national requirements, best practice guidelines, reduce cost, decrease length of stay and reduce patient comorbidity.
Developed, revised and implemented multiple hospital polices and protocols regarding stroke care and practice in the Emergency Room, Observation, Medical Surgical Units, Intensive Care Units and two other Off Campus Emergency Room sites.
Ensure compliance of neurological/stroke hours for bedside nurses and core stroke team (including medical staff) hospital wide.
FAST education for all providers during orientation
ARNP competency lead for Stroke/NIH care and audit stroke cases
Chair of Primary Stroke Committee Meeting and Advanced Practice Provider at West Kendall Baptist Hospital
Represent WKBH at System Wide Stroke Committee
Volunteer at various hospital led fairs to promote stroke care and health prevention
Assist in system wide ARNP development projects

Neurosurgery APRN 06/2014-06/2015
Baptist Hospital
Complete intake and assessment for new and established patients.
Manage and Implement care for the neurosurgical post-operative patient population.
Assess, diagnose, implement and manage patient’s signs and symptoms whether via telephone call, email and/or face to face contact.

Registered Nurse 08/2005-06/2014
Baptist Hospital
Critical Care Academy graduate with experience in telemetry, cardiac stepdown and a total of 8 years of Critical Care experience in multiple specialty areas and certified in the care of the patient with intra-aortic balloon pump, Impella device, continuous renal replacement therapy, open heart surgery, burr holes, ventriculostomy, lumbar drains, ECMO, Tandem heart and LVADs.
Expert level nurse as per PNAP/CCAP
Trained and worked as Clinical Resource and Triage RN
Served as preceptor to stepdown nurses, neuro bootcamp nurses, other ICU nurses when obtaining certification in specialty areas as well as on board training in Critical Care.
Participated and assisted in attainment of Comprehensive Stroke Certification

Clinical Partner, Float Pool 04/2004-07/2005
Baptist Hospital
Nursing assistant, who worked in a variety of departments across the hospital.

AWARDS

• Bronze award for hospital recognition of stroke achievements by American Heart Association, 2016
• Silver award for hospital recognition of stroke achievements by American Heart Association 2017
• Gold plus award for hospital recognition of stroke achievements by American Heart Association, 2018
• West Kendall Nurse Practitioner of the year, 2018
• Advance Practice Provider of the Year for West Kendall Baptist Hospital, 2018
• Florida Nursing Association nomination for Advanced Practice Nurse Award, 2019
• Gold Plus Award for hospital recognition of stroke achievements by American Heart Association 2019
• Stroke Quality Care Award for Most Improved Facility by Baptist Health South Florida, 2019
• West Kendall Nurse Practitioner of the year, 2020

EDUCATION

• Florida International University
  April 2021
  Legal Nurse Consultant Program
• Barry University
  2012
  MSN
• Barry University
  2009
  BSN
• Miami Dade College
  2004
  ASN –RN

LICENSURE

• Florida APRN
  Expires 4/30/2023

CERTIFICATION

• American Nurses Credentialing Center, ACNP-BC, active
• American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, CCRN, active
• American Heart Association, ACLS Provider, active
• American Heart Association, BLS Provider, active

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

• AACN 2009-present
• ANA 2012-present
• AANP 2017-present

VOLUNTEER

• Preceptor for Family and Acute Care Nursing Clinical Programs
  2015-present
• System wide/Hospital based stroke fairs
  2016- 2019
• Day in the life of a RN
  2018
• Family Health and Wellness Expo at WKBH –Stroke Education
  2018

CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS

• Chair of Primary Stroke Committee, 2015-2021
• Chair of WKBH Advanced Practice
  Providers Committee, 2015-2021
• Co-Chair of the Stroke Clinical Care Committee, 2019-2021
• Development of inpatient, outpatient/ED stroke alert process, development and implementation of policy and procedures, neurological education for nursing and medical staff, 2015
• Lead of WKBH Telemedicine Stroke Program, Lead for NIH, stroke and telemedicine competency during APRN annual competency fair, PI projects for NIH and dysphagia screening, RN driven Alteplase mixing during stroke alert, 2016
• Proven reduce length of stay, initiation of cost-effective measures when caring for the neurological patient and Dysphagia PI project: if CTB then dysphagia screening, 2017
• Initiation of CTA process during stroke alerts, PI for dysphagia screenings and development of neuro alert paging system, deployed Stroke Alert Service Line for Neurology services and part of the Evidence Based Practice Council Seizure Design group, 2018
• Expansion and lead of stroke program at West Kendall Baptist Hospital and Off Campus Emergency Rooms, part of Evidence Based Practice Council DRG Design group, developed NIH Cram sessions, initiation of Mock Stroke Alerts, created central call system for stroke alerts to integrate the hospital and transfer center with Neurology, 2019
• Clinical Ladder- Nurse
  Practitioner 2, 2019