Michelle Armella
East Rutherford,NJ
Summary
Skilled nurse leader with background in clinical and operational leadership at the hospital and system level. Focused on achieving improved patient outcomes, staff satisfaction, and transformative excellence. Analytical and strategic nurse manager with excellent problem-solving and time management skills. Organized, efficient, and always willing to go the extra mile to meet expectations.
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Nurse Manager, PACT Call Center
Department of Veterans Affairs
01.2023 - Current
- Oversees the VA NJ PACT Call Center and all of its operations to ensure seamless care for all 11 sites in VA NJ.
- Led performance optimization for the VANJ traveling veteran program, resulting in a 10% increase in program efficiency for 200 veterans each year.
- Directed the strategic coordination of care for high-risk veterans and special populations, resulting in a 31% reduction in emergency department visits and a calculated ROI of $70,752.
Nursing Supervisor Per Diem
Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center
04.2021 - Current
- Designated onsite hospital administrator after normal business hours for a 530-bed facility that includes telemetry, medical-surgical, critical care, and emergency departments.
Nursing Supervisor Per Diem
St. Joseph's Health
08.2019 - Current
- Designated onsite hospital administrator after normal business hours for a 133-bed facility that includes telemetry, medical-surgical, and emergency departments.
Nurse Navigator, Oncology
Department of Veterans Affairs
01.2019 - 12.2022
- Ensured seamless integration and a timely process of care from diagnosis to completion of treatment for genitourinary and complex skin cancer
- Responsible for tracking prostate cancer to ensure veterans are receiving all appropriate care according to NCCN guidelines
- Participated in developing the Urology Tumor Board and prostate patient huddles
- Assisted in recruitment and follow-up of patients in the STARPORT (STANDARD systemic theRapy with or without pettherapy-directed local therapy for oligorecurrence) prostate study
- Developed a stakeholder survey for the NJ VA Health Care System Community Needs Assessment: Barriers to Cancer Care.
Infusion Nurse Per Diem
Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center
12.2017 - 12.2019
- Assessed patients for suitability for chemotherapy by performing verification of chemotherapy orders utilizing patient identifiers and interpreting chemotherapy orders accurately by calculating BSA and ANC.
Clinical Nurse Manager
Mount Sinai Hospital
01.2017 - 12.2018
- Responsible for a 36-bed medical, oncology, and telemetry unit, a staff 72, and a budget of 5.1 million dollars
- Accountable for assessing, identifying, planning, and evaluating the unit needs to achieve safe patient outcomes, as demonstrated by the steady decline in central line utilization from 28% in January to 20% in December 2017
- Launched the Discharge Before Noon Project and achieved a 30% increase in discharges by assembling a multidisciplinary team approach
- Piloted the purposeful hourly rounding initiative, leading to an increased satisfaction score and the most improved unit award.
Nurse Manager
Hackensack University Medical Center
12.2014 - 07.2016
- Responsible for the stroke unit, which was composed of 16 neurology and 10 oncology beds, a staff of 52, and a budget of $3.2 million.
- Monitored Standards of Practice to ensure compliance with codes of internal and external regulatory and accrediting agencies (disease specific certification, The Joint Commission, NJ DOH).
- Responsible for reducing our fall rates by 15% by launching our fall reduction project with Stryker.
- Developed a video electroencephalogram (VEEG) patient workflow with capacity management, which improved patient throughput in the unit.
Senior Nurse Manager
Weill Cornell Medical College
06.2013 - 11.2014
- Supervised a staff of eight medical technicians in an outpatient surgical faculty practice setting with an average of 12,000 visits per year.
- Coordinated provider-specific procedures (tissue expanders, radio frequency ablation, sclerotherapy, endovenous laser treatment, sigmoidoscopy, and thyroid fine needle aspiration).
- Participated in the WCMC Policy and Procedure Task Force, which created a procedure and protocol manual, and served as the Ebola coordinator and WCMC Quality and Safety Task Force.
Nurse Practitioner
Weill Cornell Medical College
04.2012 - 06.2013
- Coordinated pre-operative care and followed up on bariatric patients in the outpatient setting.
- Developed specialized bariatric education for patients
- Created a multidisciplinary team for the preoperative project with Epic to establish a workflow between preoperative and outpatient clinics.
Nurse Practitioner
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
02.2008 - 04.2012
- Contributed to the development of colorectal order sets and clinical pathway guidelines.
- Created colorectal education for patients and healthcare providers, as well as the Colorectal Guide for Surgical Interns.
Nurse Clinician
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
05.2006 - 02.2008
- Assessed the needs of the patients and developed their nursing care plans in 36 medical-surgical, transplant, and hemodialysis units
- Provided clinical postoperative management for living, cadaver, and pancreas transplant patients.
- Implemented the Dry-Erase Board project, increasing nursing communication scores by 25%.
- Precepte new nurses and nursing students while also serving as the Graduate Nurse Residency Program Educator at NYU.
Education
Post Masters Certificate - Nursing Administration
New York University
New York, NYMaster of Science - Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
New York University
New York, NYBachelor of Science - Nursing
CUNY-Herbert H. Lehman College
Bronx, NYSkills
- Computer literacy
- Leadership
- Customer service
- Microsoft office
- Organizational skills
- Utilization Management
- Preventive health
Accomplishments
- Collaborated with a team of 15 to develop strategies for reducing ED utilization at EOVA.
- We reduced ED visits by 31% by implementing case management interventions for high-risk patients with more than three ED visits, and our calculated return on investment was $70,752.The project received second place in the 2023 VANJHC Quality Awards.
- Developed a workflow to streamline efforts to increase the likelihood that veterans would receive their TDAP vaccinations (i.e., bundled vaccinations into a scheduled visit). The Brick CBOC TDAP vaccination rate in FY23 went from 25.45% to 34.89% by September FY23.
- Collaborated with social work leads to ensure the ACORN tool was successfully installed in CPRS by developing resources, service line workflows, and working with the ACORN national team.
Certification
- ACLS (Advance Cardiac Life Support)
- BCLS (Basic Life Support)
- RN License
- Six Sigma Green Belt, VANJHS, 2024–present
Languages
Spanish
Professional Working
Timeline
Nurse Manager, PACT Call Center
Department of Veterans Affairs
01.2023 - Current
Nursing Supervisor Per Diem
Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center
04.2021 - Current
Nursing Supervisor Per Diem
St. Joseph's Health
08.2019 - Current
Nurse Navigator, Oncology
Department of Veterans Affairs
01.2019 - 12.2022
Infusion Nurse Per Diem
Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center
12.2017 - 12.2019
Clinical Nurse Manager
Mount Sinai Hospital
01.2017 - 12.2018
Nurse Manager
Hackensack University Medical Center
12.2014 - 07.2016
Senior Nurse Manager
Weill Cornell Medical College
06.2013 - 11.2014
Nurse Practitioner
Weill Cornell Medical College
04.2012 - 06.2013
Nurse Practitioner
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
02.2008 - 04.2012
Nurse Clinician
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
05.2006 - 02.2008
Post Masters Certificate - Nursing Administration
New York University
Master of Science - Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
New York University
Bachelor of Science - Nursing
CUNY-Herbert H. Lehman College
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