A. J. Zenthoefer MSN RN

• Perform as team lead for patient and staff management of a medical / surgical / telemetry inpatient unit.
• Build rapport with patients and family members to deliver exceptional care.
• Collaborate with healthcare team and physicians to quickly assess patients and deliver appropriate treatment.

• Team Lead management for complex cardiopulmonary inpatient 35 bed high acuity unit,
• Adjunct Instructor for Dedicated Educational Unit trained and mentored new nurses
• Educated patients, families and staff and delivered answers about complicated health condition, prognosis and treatment.
• Achieved Hospital wide Patient Safety Award

• Established highly successful role in reducing CMS financial penalty readmissions from 40% to 8% in 13 months through over 300 patient encounters and telephone follow up
• It included data and chart review and abstraction and analysis as well as health-literacy education for staff and patients and families
• Drove operational improvements which resulted in savings and improved profit margins saving facility between $1-2 million in CMS readmission penalties.

• From initial development under $17 million CMS grant through Vanderbilt, through implementation of daily logistics of education and telephone follow-up, Highly successful in reducing readmissions. Managing quality care for patients with CMS financial penalty diagnosis and co-morbidities
• Audited charts and reviewed clinical documents to verify accuracy against established best practices, standards of care

Effectively managed team and patients in emergency room and hospital Critical Access facility from triage through inpatient and discharge

• Effectively prioritized assignments, executing care based on each patient's condition and needs and delegating tasks to available personnel delivering safe and efficient care.
• Worked within interdisciplinary health care team to develop, implement and make adjustments to patient care plans, individualizing strategies and methods to improve health and recovery goals.

• Progressed successfully from Cardiac Step-down to Critical Resource Pool to Charge Nurse RN roles
• Delivered world class critical care in all acute care areas ER, ICU, MICU, CVICU, SICU, NVCU, Burn Unit
• Often times very intense but educational and rewarding environments