Rebbeca Roberts

This was a temporary agency assignment working on a pilot project to streamline the outgoing pediatric referrals at SCHC, to expedite current referrals as well as complete the backlog of unprocessed referrals. As the pediatric RN on the pilot project, I functioned as a liaison between families, SCHC providers, specialists and insurers. I supplied guidance to SCHC providers to remove obstacles that held up referrals, I also offered outreach to families to explain why certain care services were necessary and answered any clinical questions they had. I worked with specialty offices to make sure our pediatric patients received timely care and partnered with insurance providers to save families the headache of navigating through the benefits process on their own. I worked with the CIRCLE Clinic to bring trauma-informed comprehensive health services to Sacramento foster youth, and I also worked with the refugee clinic to link newly arriving pediatric refugees and asylees to appropriate health services for ongoing care. It was both challenging and rewarding, and it provided me with an opportunity to use multiple skill sets.

I worked as an RN in a Level II NICU for Providence. My training with Providence included a 12-week clinical academy as well as cross-training in the hospital’s postpartum unit. My acute care experience has provided me with advanced health assessment competencies, increased knowledge in the development of care plans, hands-on experience in preoperative clearance and postoperative care, expanded knowledge regarding the prevention of hospital-acquired injuries and infections, experience with IV insertion and the safe administration of IV medications, enhanced understanding to guide patients through admission and discharge processes, and refined my communication tools in terms of educating patients and their families utilizing a variety of strategies, such as the teach-back method.

My primary job duties in this position included ensuring that appeals and grievances were resolved in a timely manner to meet regulatory timeframes; documenting and logging appeal and grievance information on relevant tracking and mainframe systems; investigating and reviewing member grievances to determine if a quality of care issue existed (such as lack of access to care or discrimination) by reviewing medical records and speaking with parties involved pertaining to prospective, inpatient or retrospective services; extrapolating and summarizing medical information for review by the medical director, consultants and other external review; preparing recommendations for the medical director; generating written correspondence to members, providers and regulatory entities; utilizing leadership skills and serving as a subject matter expert for appeals/grievances/quality of care issues; and serving as a resource for clinical and non-clinical team members in expediting the resolution of outstanding issues.

After completing my RN practicum at this site in November 2021, I was offered employment with NVISION to assist in pre-op and PACU. My job duties included assessment, instruction & preparation of patients prior to surgery; ensuring that consents were signed and correct; measuring and recording vital signs; initiating IV access; assessing and monitoring patients postoperatively; monitoring vital signs to meet discharge criteria; providing discharge instructions; answering patient questions and ensuring patient comfort; monitoring for changes in condition, reporting to physician as necessary; and performing interventions during emergencies prior to/after surgery.