Zoe Alterman, MSN, RN, CCRN-K

Served as Performance Improvement Nurse focused on Sepsis. Responsibilities include: Development of a Sepsis program at Nevada's leading academic medical center, Level 1, Burn Care, and Children's Level 1 Hospital. Duties include tracking patient outcomes via extensive chart audits, track and trend Sepsis mortality, review and trend outcomes reported to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid, collaborate with staff and providers to streamline and improve sepsis care for patients in the Emergency Department and all inpatient units, and serve as a resource for Sepsis. Created the nation's first Nurse-driven Sepsis protocol using Predictive Analytics (research pending) via Electronic Health Record. Have led Continuing Education programs and in-services to nurses, Residents and physicians to enhance nursing and provider knowledge on such topics as: Sepsis, Communication skills, Regulatory Compliance, documentation, and Physician Peer Review. Was an active participant in the Physician Peer Review process, working closely with assigned physician partners to identify potential gaps in patient care. Currently serve as Quality and PI Coordinator for Regulator Compliance, serving as an educator to bedside staff on policy, procedure, Joint Commission, CMS, and other surveying bodies. Actively participate in Environment of Care rounding, Mock Surveys, and Tracers to help ensure survey readiness and to help identify potential systems issues.

December, 1998-September 2003: On the Orthopedic/Trauma Unit, cared for patients experiencing all types of orthopedic injury and/or elective orthopedic surgery including adolescent and adult spinal fusion, total joint replacement, skeletal traction, bucks traction, body casting, and halo traction. Served as charge nurse with duties that included staffing, assignment making, and accountability for patients on the unit. Served as the program manager for the Total Joint Program, which included duties such as facilitating the patient pre-operative class, compiling and running data on length of stay, post-operative complications, patient satisfaction, and follow up phone calls. Participated in a multi-disciplinary Root Cause Analysis for our unit that resulted in the hospital purchasing bedside pulse-oximetry monitors for all Acute Care units.

September, 2003-May 2014: Started in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, now named Trauma/Neuro Intensive Care Unit; specializing in the care of critically injured patients or patients with complex surgical procedures. Assisted in the redesign/expansion of our unit to include a new Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit; now a highly functioning ICU specializing in the care of patients with a wide spectrum of neurological pathology including acute stroke, brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and other neurological disorders.

In 2012, took the position of Clinical 1, working closely with the ICU and house wide educators to promote evidence based practice at the bedside, orient and precept nurses new to the NTICU, precept students, and help to initiate new policy and procedure. Added responsibilities included house wide and unit specific validations and relief charge nurse. Additional skills: Active participant in three successful Primary Stroke Surveys (2007, 2009, 2011), two Comprehensive Stroke Surveys (2013, 2015), three Level 1 accreditation surveys from the American College of Surgeons (2009, 2012, 2015). Actively involved in four Joint Commission Surveys, and numerous other disease specific surveys. Was an active participant in Shared Governance, serving a total of 3 terms as Chair of the NTICU Unit Based Council, and 3 terms as Co-chair of the hospital Nurse Executive Council. Was asked to participate in an evaluation of Relationship Based Care through Creative Healthcare Management Services, as a care delivery model. Successfully presented to the hospital Executive team and assisted with house wide roll-out.

May, 2014-September, 2016: Unit Based Educator in the Critical Care Division, responsible for the professional development and education for over 200 staff in a 76-bed Intensive Care Division including Intermediate Care Unit, ICU Float Pool and Central Monitor Technicians. Helped develop the division's first ICU New Graduate Residency, using evidence-based professional development criteria. Served as my hospital's representative in the Centura System New Grad residency, as well as taught several portions of the curriculum. Helped create the hospital's first Nurse Intern program, including writing job description, participating in interviews, writing core competencies and orientation. Created competencies and development plans for professional advancement within specific Critical Care areas and the division as a whole. Maintained annual required competencies and regulatory requirements for education and staff training. Created and maintained all staff orientations, including Registered Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, and Monitor Techs. Established many strong, working relationships within other departments to create curriculum and staff development. Other successful projects include: Participating in a multi-disciplinary team to re-write guidelines of care for Severe Traumatic Brain Injury, serve as the ICU Education representative on the Education/Professional Development Council, Neuro-Critical Care Core team, Stoke CET, Sepsis CET, and the Cardio-Thoracic Surgical group. Created educational opportunities for hospital staff that include care of the TBI patient and Severe TBI concepts, Open Heart Surgery Class, Re-Sternotomy training based on the CSU-ALS guidelines. As part of the ICU Leadership team, served as facilitator/resource when other team members were absent.

• Served as a Clinical Instructor for senior nursing students. Responsible for up to seven students in the hospital setting, guiding them through the nursing process as they cared for 2-3 patients each. Able to effectively teach critical thinking, time management, nursing skills, care planning, and proper charting technique.

• As a new graduate nurse, provided primary nursing care to patients with a wide spectrum of medical and cardiac diseases, including post cardiac interventions (PTCA, stents, CABG). Duties included total body assessment, medication administration, careful cardiac monitoring, detailed communication with doctors, nurses, patients, their families, and other hospital staff.