Vivienne Kaplan
OAK PARK,CA
Summary
Strong leader and problem-solver with solid knowledge and experience in the field of Perioperative nursing. Extremely effective in building and maintaining relationships, managing and coaching staff, and driving projects to completion. Excellent communication skills with the ability to adapt and function in high-stress situations. Proven track record of reliability and responsibility. Resourceful in completing projects and meeting deadlines. Uses independent decision-making skills and sound judgment to positively impact department success.
Overview
53
53
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Nursing Director, Perioperative Services
Dignity Health St. John's Hospital Camarillo
05.2022 - Current
- Oversight of 3 OR's, 11 bed Pre-Op, PACU & SPD
- Developed new processes to ensure full compliance with AORN Guidelines, CMS Regulations, and The Joint Commission Standards.
- Enhanced team collaboration through regular communication, goal setting, and performance evaluations.
- Increased company revenue by streamlining processes and implementing cost-saving measures.
- Developed high-performing teams by providing mentorship, guidance, and opportunities for professional growth.
Perioperative Services, The Joint Commission Consultant
Marian Regional Medical Center
09.2021 - 04.2022
- Brought on board to prepare the Surgical Services Department for TJC survey
- Responsible for 12 room OR, Pre-Op, PACU, & SPD
- Identified areas of non-compliance in all areas
- Revised the OR Time Out process and rolled out education for staff & physicians
- Created Fire Risk Assessment education for staff & physicians
- Changed EVS process for cleaning the OR, trained EVS staff to new process
- Created audit tool to monitor compliance of new processes
- Developed training program to transition five new Periop 101 nurses into OR team
- Created Surgical Tech training program for a staff member moving from position as Transporter to Surgical Tech
- Completed TJC survey without an official citation.
- Streamlined internal processes to enhance team efficiency and improve overall project outcomes.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to successfully deliver comprehensive solutions for the department.
Interim Director Perioperative Services
WhidbeyHealth Medical Center
05.2019 - 07.2020
- 4 room OR at Critical Access Hospital on Whidbey Island, WA
- Interim Director of OR, ACU, PACU, & SPD and one room Endoscopy Suite
- Identified and fixed multiple deficits to prepare department for CMS and Washington State Department of Health survey
- Surgical Services surveyed by WA state Department of Health and CMS surveyors without a single citation for the department
- Working with hospital engineering department, designed and implemented plan for new Sterile Processing department; negotiated with vendors for the purchase of new washer/sterilizer; and new furnishings to bring department into compliance with CMS guidelines
- Developed plan for comprehensive Total Joint Program, working with administration to recruit new orthopedic surgeon
- Introduced One Tray system to offer department state-of-the-art processing for instrument trays
- Assisted in preparing the hospital to become a DNV (Der Norska Veritas) accredited facility
- Designed and implemented state-of-the-art Endoscope Processing Suite
- During COVID-19 pandemic worked with administration and engineering to convert PACU into a negative pressure unit for confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Interim Director Perioperative Services
CPMC - California-Pacific Medical Center
01.2018 - 04.2019
- 200+ bed acute care hospital in city
- Interim Director of OR, ACU, PACU & SPD with 100+ employees
- 10 room OR suite with focus on total joint, pediatric, plastic, general & gynecological surgery - 7,800+ cases per year
- Prepared hospital for triannual Joint Commission survey - survey concluded with no findings in Surgical Services
- Transition team lead, planning closure of the California campus of CPMC - California Pacific Medical Center, coordinating move of multiple surgical specialties to two brand new locations across town
- Logistics team lead of clinical and ancillary staff developing move plan to ensure smooth transition and transfer of instruments and equipment
- Along with OR Scheduling management team and anesthesia developed block schedules for new CPMC Pacific Heights Ambulatory Surgery Center
- In collaboration with Anesthesia developed new guidelines for ASC, and new 23 hour hold unit
- Developed staffing plan for new Pacific Heights ASC, negotiating with California Nurses Association and NUHW to ensure smooth transition of nurses and OR Techs
- Created workflows for OR, ACU, PACU, and SPD at new location
- Collaborated with CPMC Project Manager on logistics of move
- Hired additional staff to cover 'transition period' and developed training plan for staff in the new unit
- Closed CPMC California campus and moved to new Pacific Heights location over a single weekend.
Interim Director Perioperative Services
Mills Peninsula Medical Center, Sutter Health
08.2017 - 12.2017
- 7 room Outpatient Surgery Center with 14,000+ cases annually
- Interim Director of OR, Pre-Op, PACU, SPD, and Pre-Admissions
- Developed workflow for new orthopedic surgeon with robust ambulatory surgery caseload
- Improved workflow for patients undergoing procedures requiring nerve blocks, reducing turnaround time between one case ending and next case into room.
Interim Director of Perioperative Services
The Miami Medical Center
04.2017 - 08.2017
- Interim Director of 10 room OR, 15 room pre-op and 12 bed PACU, in private physician-owned hospital catering to VIP and International patient population
- Took over responsibility for the department 5 months after hospital opened
- Involved in strategic planning for increasing surgical volume
- Reorganized staffing patterns and workflow to increase productivity
- Worked closely with Quality and Infection Control departments to ensure compliance with Federal, State, Joint Commission and CMS Standards
- Hired and trained staff for DaVinci robot team and recruited surgeon with largest GYN robotic surgery practice in the Miami area, increasing surgical volume by 25%
- Developed interdisciplinary team of RN's, OR Techs, Surgeons and Anesthesiologists, to trouble-shoot departmental issues
- Improvement in physician and staff satisfaction led to overall increase in surgical volume of 30% in 5 months.
Interim Director of Perioperative Services
Kaiser Permanente South Bay
01.2017 - 04.2017
- Oversight of 12 room OR suite, Pre-Op, PACU, SPD, and >175 staff
- Created interdisciplinary team to decrease physician dissatisfaction with marked improvement in on time case starts
- Reduced backlog of incomplete electronic medical record charts from 3000+ to less than 500 in 3 months
- Formulated and implemented plan to improve processes in SPD
- Introduced Cardinal Procedure Based Case Delivery (PBDS) system to reduce costs
- Developed an Action Plan used to coach Charge Nurse with performance issues.
Perioperative Services Consultant
Peace Heath St. Joseph Medical Center
05.2015 - 12.2016
- Executive coach and mentor to OR Assistant Manager with
- Set goals for advancement, assessed strengths and opportunities, and continuously evaluated and coached her progress and confidence to lead
- Coached her into formulating a clear vision for the future of departments within Perioperative Services (OR, Pre-Op, PACU, SPD, PAS)
- Assisted in development of practice guidelines and policies to reduce a number of 'near-miss' events
- Facilitated building of relationships with leaders in other departments; Administrative Leadership, Risk Management, Infection Control, Safety and Security, Medical Staff, Quality and Performance Improvement, Environmental Services
- Shared my experience in preparing Perioperative Services department(s), with gaps in multiple regulatory compliance requirements, for accreditation survey
- Facilitated a DNV (Der Norske Veritas) accreditation survey, completed without a single citation
- In 5 months of targeted succession planning, Assistant Manager well-prepared for transition to Manager position.
Interim Director, Perioperative Services
Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco
01.2015 - 04.2015
- Oversight for 6 room OR, Preop, PACU and SPD 100+ employees.
- Staff morale low.
- Strong union representation.
- All departments non-compliant in multiple areas.
- Worked on Joint Commission prep for survey due in November 2016.
- Identified nurse leaders in department enlisting their support to implement necessary changes.
- Participated in Kaiser Regional Perioperative Directors Group to create regional Surgical Attire policy.
- Implemented changes in Surgical Attire, set up case cart system, developed and rolled out new terminal cleaning policy for surgical services.
- Worked closely with Infection Control Nurse to address Hand Hygiene policy compliance.
- Created management team and set up weekly meetings to address department issues in real time.
- Implemented Periop 101 program and began training new OR staff nurses in anticipation of existing staff nurse retirements.
Director of Perioperative Services
Anaheim Regional Medical Center
09.2008 - 07.2014
- Hired as Manager of Surgical Services department, promoted in 45 days to Director
- Responsible for 7 room OR suite, 9 bed PACU, 10 bed Pre-Op, 4 GI Procedure rooms, Anesthesia, Pre-Admission Testing and Sterile Processing department
- Licensed 226 bed hospital with 170+ employees in Surgical Services
- 5,000 Outpatient, 4,000 Inpatient, and 2500 GI Procedures per year
- Responsible for planning, implementation, and monitoring of $15M budget
- Created staff incentive program to improve room turnover time and first case start times that reduced turnover time from 40 minutes to 25 minutes in 3 months
- Reduced staff overtime, and eliminated timecard abuse by changing staffing patterns
- Eliminated travel staff of 11RN's and 5 OR Techs, replacing them with fulltime staff in 4 months
- Implemented and oversaw major capital improvements and purchase of new equipment for OR
- Created and chaired Surgery Action Committee made up of representatives from all perioperative services departments, as well as surgeons, anesthesiologists, and educators, resulting in immediate improvement in communication and processes within the service
- Oversaw department transition to electronic medical record - modified developer's generic EMR, creating user-friendly EMR with prompts to ensure compliance with SCIP, CMS and Joint Commission standards which led to EMR requested for use in OR's in other hospitals in the group
- Implemented individualized, case specific surgical case delivery system, reducing inventory on shelves and saving the department over $300,000 within a year
- Served on numerous committees - Record of Care, NPSG, Dept Of Surgery, Dept Of Anesthesia, Management Steering, Quality Control Council, Cardiovascular Surgery and Joint Commission PPR Task Force
- Introduced and implemented ongoing Periop101 program to train New Grads for the OR
- Prepared Perioperative Services for Anaheim Regional Medical Center 2011 and 2013 Joint Commission Survey; department surveys completed without a single finding.
- During my tenure, Perioperative Services maintained highest Patient Satisfaction and Employee Satisfaction scores in the hospital
- Perioperative Services consistently recorded lowest staff turnover rate in hospital.
- Implemented cost-saving measures for supply management, reducing waste and improving overall efficiency.
- Enhanced patient satisfaction by streamlining surgical scheduling processes and optimizing preoperative assessments.
OR Nurse Manager
St. John's Regional Medical Center
10.2006 - 06.2008
- Managed staff of 50+ FTE's
- Responsible for daily operation of eight (8) room OR suite
- Ensured compliance with staff licensure & Joint Commission accreditation standards
- Developed and implemented monthly departmental in-service programs
- Maintained department Productivity, flexing staff to comply with department needs
- Developed & implemented quality & process improvement programs
- Served on Committee to develop hospital's Spine Surgery Program
- Negotiated & monitored contracts for staff, equipment & supplies.
Charge Nurse - PM Shift
St. John's Regional Medical Center
08.2005 - 10.2006
- Assumed duties for surgery schedule from AM Charge Nurse
- Worked closely with physicians, anesthesiologists, nurses and certified scrub technicians to ensure smooth running of surgery schedule
- Assigned PM staff to complete cases left over from AM schedule
- Completed schedule for the following day - assigning staff to rooms, adding to schedule all cases booked after 4pm
- Assisted staff where needed, checking in patients, setting up invasive lines, transporting patients to and from the ICU
- Worked on-call on assigned nights and weekends
- Turned staff of individuals working independently into a team working cohesively and in concert with surgeons and anesthesiologists, increasing caseload on PM shift.
Clinical Coordinator - Endoscopy Team
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
09.1982 - 03.1984
- Hired as staff nurse in Outpatient Surgery Department, promoted to Clinical Coordinator Endoscopy Team after 30 days
- Managed staff of 5 technicians, handling all endoscopic surgery in 20 OR's, with responsibility for ongoing training of staff
- Worked with physician in charge of team to introduce new laser to the department.
OR Staff Nurse
South Bay Hospital
03.1980 - 03.1982
- Staff Nurse position after moving to California from New York
- Scrubbed & circulated on all surgical specialties
- Specialty scrub nurse on ophthalmology and neurosurgery services
- Worked on-call on assigned nights and weekends.
OR Staff Nurse
Lenox Hill Hospital
10.1978 - 03.1980
- Hired by Lenox Hill Hospital to join Operating Room staff with no prior OR experience
- Trained to scrub and circulate on all specialties with the exception of Cardiac Surgery
- Within 6 months became specialty scrub on Orthopedic and Plastic surgery services.
Clinical Coordinator Emergency Room
Sam Houston Memorial Hospital
07.1976 - 06.1978
- Moved to the United States from London, England
- Hired as Staff Nurse in Emergency Room with no previous ER experience
- Promoted within 4 months to Clinical Coordinator of ER
- Managed staff of 6 RN's and 4 OR Techs
- Prepared staff schedule, worked closely with Emergency Room physician to ensure staff trained for response to all emergencies
- Maintained close relationships with all physicians and critical care staff in hospital to ensure relationship of mutual trust between departments.
Med-Surg Staff Nurse
St. Mary's Hospital
06.1975 - 06.1976
- Staff Nurse on private Med-Surg wing of busy London hospital
The Nightingale School of Nursing
St. Thomas' Hospital
04.1971 - 06.1975
- Accepted into nursing school founded in 1860 by Florence Nightingale.
- Rotated through all services in supervised staff nurse capacity during training.
- Skilled at working independently and collaboratively in a team environment.
- Self-motivated, with a strong sense of personal responsibility.
- Past Nursing Boards on first attempt.
- Staff Nurse on Med-Surg floor for 6 months post graduation.
Education
RN Associate of Nursing Degree -
Nightingale School of Nursing, London University
BSN -
University of Dundee
Dundee, Scotland02.2012
Skills
- Staff Management
- Budget Control
- Operations Management
- Staff Development
- Project Coordination
- Logistics Management
Certification
- Registered Nurse License, 316326, CA
- Registered Nurse License, 312598, NY
- Registered Nurse License, 60661253, WA
- Registered Nurse License, 0482579, United Kingdom
Affiliations
- Member - Association of California Nurse Leaders (ACNL)
- Member - Association Operating Room Nurses (AORN)
References
References provided upon request.
Timeline
Nursing Director, Perioperative Services
Dignity Health St. John's Hospital Camarillo
05.2022 - Current
Perioperative Services, The Joint Commission Consultant
Marian Regional Medical Center
09.2021 - 04.2022
Interim Director Perioperative Services
WhidbeyHealth Medical Center
05.2019 - 07.2020
Interim Director Perioperative Services
CPMC - California-Pacific Medical Center
01.2018 - 04.2019
Interim Director Perioperative Services
Mills Peninsula Medical Center, Sutter Health
08.2017 - 12.2017
Interim Director of Perioperative Services
The Miami Medical Center
04.2017 - 08.2017
Interim Director of Perioperative Services
Kaiser Permanente South Bay
01.2017 - 04.2017
Perioperative Services Consultant
Peace Heath St. Joseph Medical Center
05.2015 - 12.2016
Interim Director, Perioperative Services
Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco
01.2015 - 04.2015
Director of Perioperative Services
Anaheim Regional Medical Center
09.2008 - 07.2014
OR Nurse Manager
St. John's Regional Medical Center
10.2006 - 06.2008
Charge Nurse - PM Shift
St. John's Regional Medical Center
08.2005 - 10.2006
Clinical Coordinator - Endoscopy Team
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
09.1982 - 03.1984
OR Staff Nurse
South Bay Hospital
03.1980 - 03.1982
OR Staff Nurse
Lenox Hill Hospital
10.1978 - 03.1980
Clinical Coordinator Emergency Room
Sam Houston Memorial Hospital
07.1976 - 06.1978
Med-Surg Staff Nurse
St. Mary's Hospital
06.1975 - 06.1976
The Nightingale School of Nursing
St. Thomas' Hospital
04.1971 - 06.1975
RN Associate of Nursing Degree -
Nightingale School of Nursing, London University
BSN -
University of Dundee
- Registered Nurse License, 316326, CA
- Registered Nurse License, 312598, NY
- Registered Nurse License, 60661253, WA
- Registered Nurse License, 0482579, United Kingdom
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