Darlene Cruz

Charge Nurse

• Managed operations of a 36-bed, step down unit, supervising up to 13 RNs and 6 Nursing Assistants. Coordinated with members of the Interdisciplinary team to ensure the timely delivery of scheduled care as well as oversight of all acute status changes of all assigned BMT-CI patients.

Registered Nurse – Blood and Marrow Transplant Cellular Immunotherapy.

• Independently administer hematopoietic allogenic and autologous stem cells during transplant. Administer CAR-T therapy to patients while following strict clinical trial guidelines.

• Managed patients through the stem cell transplant process from induction chemo to engraftment, as well as patients experiencing pot-transplant complications such as Graft vs Host disease, engraftment failure, and recurrent cancer.

• Educating patients and caregivers regarding all aspect of transplant including management of lifelong immunosuppressants

• Provide comfort care and inpatient hospice as directed by the Blood and Marrow Transplant team while practicing patient advocacy.

• Provided patient-centered appropriate care to all assigned patients consistent with current policies, procedures and guidelines in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Cellular Immunotherapy unit while maintaining a knowledge base of frequently changing protocols including more than 20 clinical trials centered on the forefront of medical research

• Provided quality care for patients with varying comorbidities including cardiac, renal, pulmonary and hepatic insufficiency histories in a complex oncology step-down classified unit.

• Implemented robust denial management strategies that significantly reduced lost revenue due to denied claims or appeals processes failures.
• Strengthened team relationships and effectiveness with hands-on and motivational approach.
• Monitored department KPIs and employee performance and adjusted plans to meet daily and monthly goals.
• Enhanced revenue cycle efficiency by implementing strategic process improvements and workflow optimizations.
• Established strong relationships with insurance carriers, improving communication channels for efficient claim processing and dispute resolution.
• Trained, evaluated, and challenged team of 20 personnel.
• Coached and mentored team members for professional growth, resulting in enhanced job performance and higher employee satisfaction.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to develop and implement revenue cycle policies and procedures.