zaliauskas-jenna-linked in cv
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JENNA ZALIAUSKASEmail: [email protected]
Highest Federal Civilian Position Held: NV-0610-3 (GS-15 equivalent )
Experience:
Veterans Health Administration 08/2012 to Present
3801 Miranda Ave. $151,000 per year
Palo Alto, CA 94087 Average hours per week: 40
Nurse Manager in Surgical and Interventional Procedure Service (SIPS) Line
Federal Grade: NV-0610-3
Duties, Accomplishments and Related Skills:
Administrative Supervisor and Multifunctional Senior Manager for a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospital providing the full range of care for veteran patients and operating more than 800 beds. Facilitate communications between the Chief of Staff, Executive Leadership, and nurse managers. Serve as the Chair of the Nurse Manager Council.
TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE: Leverage knowledge of healthcare systems and management to independently make high-level decisions on high-visibility issues, such as continuity of care and peer review. Assess and fulfill requests for support and resources from facilities housing up to 10 different specialties. Establish and lead initiatives to improve departmental fulfillment of the organization’s mission. Design processes and systems to improve patient care and customer service. Set policies to improve customer relations and personnel administration. Use technical knowledge of healthcare management to improve patient care systems and policies. Serve as Acting Chief of Nursing , managing the Reusable Medical Equipment (RME) program. Develop policies enhancing nurse capability to write orders under specific conditions to improve access to care. Forecast, manage, and supervise budgets. Provide oversight of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) program.
INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS: Work closely with the Nurse Executive in managing personnel schedules and workloads. Coordinate negotiations with staff on scheduling, bed control, and other emergent issues. Serve as the Chair of the Nurse Manager Council. Lead and participate in meetings and management discussions at the executive level. Create and manage agendas to assure effective interactions that focus on developing solutions and policies. Establish and maintain effective relationships with other VHA facilities to consult with executive staff on their policies and procedures regarding local issues. Work with leadership at the Palo Alto Central Office to meet deadlines for administrative and documentary initiatives. Receive and assess complaints from nursing and physician personnel regarding processes and policies for management of patient care. Present recommendations and solicit proposals for methods to improve working conditions from patients, nurse executives, and union representatives. Serve as Acting Chief of Nursing, attending executive huddles and speaking on behalf of nursing service. Manage and administer disciplinary actions as necessary.
PROBLEM SOLVING: Analyze structures, processes, and status quo operations for potential improvements. Analyze and challenge underlying assumptions with creative thinking to innovate new approaches to problems. Examine complex patient care systems and policies. Use systems knowledge and analytical skills to develop policies, procedures, and programmatic solutions in multiple departments, including Emergency Medical
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Services (EMS), Safety, Pharmacy, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) operations, Logistics, and Surgical Operations. Incorporate data management and analysis systems to develop staffing methodologies.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: *Crafted a policy to provide Nurse Supervisor coverage during a critical staffing shortage. Negotiated a settlement between hospital Executive and Nurse Manager staffs on a standard of work for Nurse Supervisor coverage. Developed and revised policy proposals, led meetings, and ultimately mediated an agreement between the two groups.
*Developed and implemented a plan of action to improve a pattern of hostile interactions between hospital staff and an individual in a critical technical position. Developed effective interactions by emphasizing technical expertise and demonstrating a commitment to improving all systems related to the staff member’s position. Recognized by multiple departmental leaders for improving organizational effectiveness through improved communications.
*Developed and implemented a peer review system that was a critical component of the hospital’s ongoing program to achieve status as a Magnet hospital.
*Developed a policy to correct deficiencies in vendor compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
*Led an initiative to improve administration of influenza vaccinations to patients in the Palo Alto region. Improved administration rate from 68% to 81% in the first year, exceeding the Chief Executive’s goal for the program.
*Assisted with the Project Red initiative to reduce readmission rates. Developed procedures to improve patient education and bedside services, leading to a reduction in readmission rates by 20%.
*Improved the continuity of care in outpatient clinics by developing and implementing a program to restructure the organization of personnel within clinics to streamline transmission of patients.
*Conducted a research project on the safest and most effective way to staff an Interventional radiology Suite. Implemented changes based on findings, including increasing allocations for three additional full time staff and creating a float pool amongst these high risk areas. These measures improved availability and timeliness of patient care, in addition to reducing expenditures on overtime pay by 82%.
*Implemented a patient satisfaction survey for Interventional radiology patients and the nursing satisfaction program.
American Mobile Health Care 03/2012 to 08/2012
12400 High Bluff Dr. $130,000 per year
San Diego, CA 92130 Average hours per week: 40
Travel Nurse Federal Grade: N/A
Duties, Accomplishments and Related Skills:
Travel Nurse for a contract medical service organization providing services for hospitals throughout the U.S. Worked as a Registered Nurse (RN) at Stanford Medical Center in California, providing care for patients in the
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Medical/Oncology Unit and Fertility Clinic.
INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS: Participated in unit management discussions to develop solutions to staffing and patient care management problems. Served as an advisor to senior management on staffing issues and management of responsibilities. Established and maintained relations with patients to gather information about and recommend changes to their healthcare and pain management programs.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: Consistently analyzed patient care procedures and policies for areas of improvement. Ensured compliance with HIPAA and organizational policies and standards of care.
TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE: Leveraged knowledge of healthcare management to analyze and resolve staffing conflicts in clinics. Developed policies for Travel Nurse personnel. Helped to implement new programs for Travel Nurse personnel by assisting management in developing policies facilitating travel nurse agency policies. Performed market analysis to provide staff with improved understanding of Travel Nurse capabilities and requirements.
University of Nebraska Medical Center 02/2006 to 02/2012
42nd St. and Emile St. $62,000 per year
Omaha, NE 98198 Average hours per week: 40
Charge Nurse Federal Grade: N/A
Duties, Accomplishments and Related Skills:
Registered Nurse and Charge Nurse for a 620 bed facility providing pain management and psychological care services. Supervised a nursing staff of 60 , conducted oversight of patient care, records management, and policy compliance functions. Managed workloads and schedules to ensure adequate coverage of patients and care for personnel. Participated in management decisions influencing administrative and operational policies.
TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE: Leveraged understanding of healthcare systems to develop assessments and recommendations for the implementation of a personnel phase-out policy. Served as Acting Manager, making daily decisions on staffing, workload and patient management, and patient care issues. Directed call-in procedures based on continuous situational assessment. Conducted research and analysis to implement new programs and technologies into existing medical and administrative structures.
INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS: Participated in management discussions at the Executive Staff level to manage multiple difficult programs. Contributed to negotiations and the decision-making process for the phase-out of Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) staff. Conducted negotiations with LPNs to facilitate relations between management and nursing staff. Led ad hoc working groups to develop new procedures and policies to implement new patient care and management programs. Managed and provided oversight of patient care, ensuring compliance with all organizational policies and procedures.
PROBLEM SOLVING: Used understanding of systems and creative thinking to independently make decisions regarding policies in the Pain Management Center. Innovated new inclusion and exclusion criteria for the program. Presented recommendations to and won approval from the Director. Led ad hoc working groups to conduct reviews of eligibility and enrollment programs.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
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*Developed a policy to merge the Pain Management Center with the Psychology Department, improving the efficiency of the management structure and freeing substantial funds from the operational budget for other initiatives.
*Selected by executive management to implement a new intravenous start kit system. Designed and supervised the initial trial and provided oversight for hospital-wide fielding.
EDUCATION:
Walden University Major: Health Care Sciences – Health Care Administration
Ph.D. G.P.A. 4.0
Completion Date: 01/2019
Clarkson College Major: Healthcare Administration
Omaha, NE 68131 Minor:
Master’s Degree GPA: 3.82
Completion Date: 04/2014 72 Semester Credits Earned
Relevant Coursework, Licensures and Certifications:RELEVANT COURSEWORK: Healthcare Quality and Regulatory Issues; Organizational Behavior; Healthcare Project Management; Healthcare Communication; Healthcare Strategic Planning; Healthcare Economics; Finances for Healthcare Leaders; Healthcare Leadership
Clarkson College Major: Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner
Omaha, NE 68131 Minor:
Bachelor’s Degree GPA: 3.85
Completion Date: 08/2011 40 Semester Credits Earned
Relevant Coursework, Licensures and Certifications:RELEVANT COURSEWORK:Essentials of Scholarly Writing; Nursing Law and Ethics
OTHER:
Job Related Training :
PROFESSIONAL LICENSES AND CERTIFICATIONS:*Nebraska State Nursing License, 10/31/14*California State Nursing License, 03/31/16
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RELEVANT TRAINING:*Department of Veterans Affairs SERVE Training, 5/2015
ORGANIZATIONS/AFFILIATIONS:
California Association of Nursing Member
American Association of Nursing Member
Additional Information:PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY:More than 20 years of experience as a healthcare systems professional. Superlative background in technical and managerial leadership, with proven success in patient care, policy development, business operations analysis, and leadership at all levels of hospital management. Exceptional interpersonal abilities; with a strong record of successful negotiations, managed to build consensus in difficult situations featuring highly contested issues. Exceptional ability in developing policies and procedures to effectively implement new programs. Consistently innovate solutions to staffing, budgetary, and patient-care problems. Highly versatile across the full spectrum of technical professions in a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospital, with strong accomplishments in reorganizing healthcare systems and staffing architectures to improve patient care and personnel effectiveness. A highly trusted technical expert with extraordinary communications skills and more than four years of experience facilitating problem-solving initiatives at the highest levels of VHA hospital administration. A successful, dynamic leader with demonstrated capability to enable organizational success at higher levels of responsibility.
PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:*Crafted a policy to provide Nurse Supervisor coverage during a critical staffing shortage. Negotiated a settlement between hospital Executive and Nurse Manager staffs on a standard of work for Nurse Supervisor coverage. Developed and revised policy proposals, led meetings, and ultimately mediated an agreement between the two groups.
*Developed and implemented a plan of action to improve a pattern of hostile interactions between hospital staff and an individual in a critical technical position. Developed effective interactions by emphasizing technical expertise and demonstrating a commitment to improving all systems related to the staff member’s position. Recognized by multiple departmental leaders for improving organizational effectiveness through improved communications.
*Conducted a research project on the safest and most effective way to staff an Interventional radiology Suite. Implemented changes based on findings, including increasing allocations for three additional full time staff and creating a float pool amongst these high risk areas. These measures improved availability and timeliness of patient care, in addition to reducing expenditures on overtime pay by 82%.
*Developed a policy to correct deficiencies in vendor compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
*Assisted with an initiative to improve administration of influenza vaccinations to patients in the Palo Alto region. Improved administration rate from 68% to 81% in the first year, exceeding the Chief Executive’s goal for the program.
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*Led the Project Red initiative to reduce readmission rates. Developed procedures to improve patient education and bedside services, leading to a reduction in readmission rates by 20%.
*Improved the continuity of care in outpatient clinics by developing and implementing a program to restructure the organization of personnel within clinics to streamline transmission of patients.
*Developed a policy to merge the Pain Management Center with the Psychology Department, improving the efficiency of the management structure and freeing substantial funds from the operational budget for other initiatives.
*Selected by executive management to implement a new intravenous start kit system. Designed and supervised the initial trial and provided oversight for hospital-wide fielding.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES, AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
TECHNICAL – KNOWLEDGE OF THE OPERATION OF A HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION OR SYSTEM AND THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT.
The Interventional radiology Unit was not running efficiently. As, a result, staff, MD’s and nurses, had poor satisfaction, patients were being cancelled because of the lack of efficiency in getting patients in and out of the procedural area, other cases that could have otherwise been added on to be able to diagnosis their cancer sooner or allow the patient to discharge could not be added on due to the lack of efficiency. This also affected the hospital as a whole, for inpatients they couldn’t be discharged thus we were holding up a bed for another patient who needed it, for outpatients other procedural areas could not do their cases because we were tying up a bed in the Outpatient surgical Service area. In conjunction with the Chief Physician, I developed an electronic scheduling grid for the Interventional Radiology Department. This eliminated cases from being canceled due to lack of efficiency and planning in additional to opening beds for other patients. This ultimately also caused increase in staff and patient satisfaction.
INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS – ABILITY TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL GROUPS.
I design and implement strategies that maximize employee potential, connects the organization horizontally and vertically, and fosters core values and high ethical standards in meeting the organization’s vision, mission, and goals. I provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others to their full potential, allows for full participation by all employees, facilitates collaboration, cooperation, teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. I ensure employees’ performance plans are aligned with organization’s goals and objectives, employees receive constructive feedback, and that employees are realistically appraised against clearly defined and communicated performance standards while holding employees accountable for appropriate levels of performance and conduct. I recruit, retain, and develop the talent needed to achieve a high quality, diverse workforce that reflects the nation, with the skills needed to accomplish objectives in the organization’s strategic plan while supporting workforce diversity, workplace inclusion, and equal employment policies and programs.
There is a drop point when veterans leave the military that they are then not connected to services. I was the lead coordinator for the volunteer nursing staff of the First ever Marine Muster. This is a program for Discharged Marines to enroll them for care. We had over 1K enroll for care. It is like a healthcare fair for the Marines where we do initial screenings for them, inform them of their benefits, and enroll them. This mission helped to provide care to thousands of marines that would have otherwise went without.
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CUSTOMER SERVICE – ABILITY TO DESIGN WORK PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS THAT ARE RESPONSIVE TO CUSTOMERS.
The Customers, Our Veterans, rating discharge teaching under satisfactory level for the hospital as a whole. I developed discharge teaching for nurses to use when discharging patients and sheets for the patients to take home with them . This increased satisfaction in this area and has helped in meeting the SAIL Model (Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning Value Model) criteria of the portion of reducing readmissions. The VA Palo Alto has reached a 4 out of 5 for SAIL designation, a system for summarizing hospital system performance within Veterans Health Administration.
CREATIVE THINKING – ABILITY TO GENERATE NEW AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS BY CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS AND LOOKING BEYOND THE STATUS QO.
I am able to develop and implement the organizational vision that integrates program goals, strategic priorities, and core values. I have proven my ability to balance change and continuity while continually striving to improve service and program performance, create a work environment that encourages creative thinking, collaboration, transparency, and maintain program focus, even under adversity. At a time when Supervisor coverage was at a crisis, we had shifts where the house did not have coverage. I developed a nursing supervisor coverage plan for the facility. This resulted in the facility being able to provide safe and efficient care to our Veterans 24/7.
SYSTEMS THINKING – KNOWLEDGE OF THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE VA HELATHCARE AND HOW IT’S DELIVERED.
I build ownership and commitment around the provision of personalized, proactive, patient driven health care by optimizing the workforce’s understanding of this new environment and a willingness to accept and adapt to this new environment. I effectively communicate the VA patients-driven model and associated strategies for delivering personalized, proactive, patient driven health care to veterans, key partners, and stakeholders.
The VA Palo Alto started a transformation of how we do business in 2014. I attended SERVE training which focused on this new way to do business; Daily Management System (DMS). After attending courses on DMS, I developed the first Methods, Equipment, Supplies, and Staffing (MESS) board for Interventional Radiology, Diagnostic Radiology, and Nuclear Medicine. I enlisted the support of Physicians in those areas to participate along with the staff. I began the first daily huddles in those areas. Within the first two weeks on implementation we had eliminated several opportunities for improvement that had been lingering for months; such as lack of bariatric gowns for patients, and equipment that needed repair. I than took the information that I had learned that worked during my implementation to the Executive Huddle. This resulted in adaptation of other units in the hospital to my ideas with the MESS board.
ORGANIZATIONAL STEWARDSHIP – ABILITY TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP, SUPPORT, AND RESOURCES TO STAFF TO ENABLE THEM TO CARRY OUT THE ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION.
I provide effective leadership in ensuring the development and successful execution of a resource management plan that integrates budget, human resources, and capital expenditures and execution of specific purpose funding in a timely manner. I assure assures that clinical operations and business processes are aligned to support implementation of the VA model of personalized, proactive, patient –driven health care.I managed the allocation of staffing resources in three high risk procedural areas. I conducted a research project on the most effective and safe way to staff an Interventional radiology Suite. I made changes based on the results of my research. I allocated for three additional FT time staff. In addition, these full time staff were also trained in Nuclear Medicine and the Diagnostic Radiology. I created a float pool amongst these high risk areas. They are very specialized. General Nurses cannot float to these areas. Creating this high risk procedural float pool helped
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to decrease shortages which were causing delays in patient care, in addition to providing a relief factor for the units without having to allocate more monies to the other units. This resulted in an 82% reduction in overtime.
AWARDS: *Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Award in Nursing Leadership, 2016
SPECIFIC QUALIFICATIONS:Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing; Creative thinking; Negotiations; Policy management; Healthcare systems; VA systems; Organizational stewardship; Facilitating communications; Creative thinking
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