Service Registered Nurse
Resume:
Jim Blankenship, RN, BHA, RLNC, Six Sigma(HC), LEAN(HC)
Newport Beach, CA 92660
email: acfa7t@r.postjobfree.com
Cell Phone: 423-***-****
Home Phone: 949-***-****
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
I have worked 24 plus years in Nursing with experience in Critical Care, Emergency, Cardiovascular, GI,
and Interventional Radiology Neuro and Vascular procedural areas. Leadership roles include Charge
Nurse, Administrative House Supervisor, Manager and Director of Cardiovascular, Emergency
Department, Neuro, and Critical Care Service Lines. My Leadership style is direct, collaborative, and
includes all team members and departments across the facilities.
I have led the design and implemented numerous programs at medical centers both as an employed
Leader and as an Independent Consultant including Stemi, Stroke, Team Building, Employee and Patient
Satisfaction improvement Plans and served as a Key Planner in two separate EMR designs and
implementations.
ACADEMIC PREPARATION
Kennedy Western University, Online 1998
Bachelor’s Degree, Healthcare Administration
Chattanooga State College, Chattanooga TN 1985
Associate’s Degree, Nursing
Evans and Associates, LTD, Chicago, IL 2002
Certified Legal Nurse Consultant
Hamilton Medical Center, Dalton GA 1994
Critical Care Course
Six Sigma Green Belt Healthcare 2007
Lean for Healthcare Certified 2007
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIEINCE
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Fountain Valley, CA May 2013 May 2014
Director, Critical Care Division, and DOU
Responsible for daily operations and long term vision of the Critical Care Division including the Acute
Stroke, Cardiovascular, and Surgical Service Lines. Duties include short and long term budgeting for all
departments, service line expansion, policy writing and review, state, federal and Joint Commission
compliance, risk evaluation and prevention, and daily management of each department with 6 direct
reporting Managers
Our Team’s Accomplishments:
35% Increase Cardiovascular Service Line cases
•
Employee Engagement (Division) improved from 28% to 91% YTD
•
Employee Turnover Rate reduced from 15% to 2% and sustained for 8 months
•
Leapfrog Initiative: within one year all requirements met to qualify for 100% VBP
•
•Design and full implementation within 30 days of daily multidisciplinary rounds and 24/7 Intensivists
Program
•All Stroke Program indicators improved 30% in response times, interventions, and outcomes after
design and implementation of Neuro Stroke Telemedicine and process improvement
•Critical Care Morbidity rates reduced and maintained from 18% to 11% for 10 months with the
design and implementation of Nurse Driven Rapid Response protocols
Design and Implementation of Temperature Targeted Therapy (Hypothermia)
•
VAP rates reduced and maintained from average of 2 per month to zero for 10 months
•
CLABSI and UTI rates reduced and maintained from average of 3 month to zero YTD
•
Overtime and Contract Labor reduced by 22%
•
•No citations thru Joint Commission, CMS, Open Heart Service Line and Stroke reaccreditation
Surveys
Committees:
•
Employee Satisfaction Member, House wide Patient Satisfaction Chair, Code Blue Chair, Stroke
Team Chair, Organ Donor Chair, House wide Projects Member and Six Sigma/LEAN Project
Coordinator
St Francis Medical Center, Lynwood, CA July 2011 May 2013
Director, Critical Care, Telemetry, Renal Services and Oncology
Responsible for three Critical Care Service Lines; Medical ICU, Trauma ICU and Cardiovascular ICU;
Telemetry, Renal Services, and Oncology Services with a total of 500+ employees. Duties include short
and long term budgeting for all departments, service line expansion, policy writing and review, state,
federal and Joint Commission compliance, risk evaluation and prevention, and daily management of each
department with 5 direct reporting Managers and Renal Services contract liaison. Quality data collection
and analysis of 3 pilot programs.
Our Team’s Achievements include:
November Joint Commission Survey with no citations in 5 departments
•
November American College of Trauma Surgeons Survey with no citations
•
Chair: St Francis Chair for Southern California CARE Committee on Sepsis and CAUTI with
•
policies written and implemented to include Nurse Driven Protocols for Sepsis Patients and CAUTI
policy with order bundle
Committees: Employee Relations, MEC, Risk, Quality, P and T, PFCC(Patient Family
•
Centered Care),
HEAT (Throughput), Infection Control, Nursing Leadership, Trauma Committee, Critical Care
Committee, UNAC Float Committee and the Cardiovascular Surgical Committee
Team Building: Employee turnover less than 1%, Employee Participation in Satisfaction
•
Survey increased by from 10% to 72% in three months with Scores improving steadily
Reduced VAP 50% for a current rate of 0 for the past 18 months with a reduction of Length of
•
Stay from 5 days to 3.5
Reduction in Premium Overtime of 38% thru the use of LEAN scheduling
•
Identified the need for improved communications with the family members. Developed a
•
Patient Family Centered Care Model with family members introduced to the Managers and Charge
Nurses within 48 hours of admission of their loved one. Internal satisfaction scores show 80% family
satisfaction, up from 30% on my arrival
Collaborated with Case Management to design and implement daily Case Management
•
Rounds on the Telemetry, Renal, and Oncology floors to better inform patients of our plan of care,
needs identified before discharge, and to improve communications with the families regarding
discharge planning. This rounding was accomplished in the patient room with family present and all
questions answered. The family becomes a member of the Care Delivery Team on admission. This
effort reduced LOS by 1 to 2 days, reduced communication related complaints by 50%, patients and
families were better prepared and thru put goals were met within 30 days of implementation
Designed and Implemented use of white boards for Communication in all patient rooms to
•
include: MD, RN, Charge Nurse, Nursing Assistant, Manager and Director’s name and contact
information, Plan of Care for the Day, Way and Stay. RNs in collaboration with Case Management
estimated date of discharge based on experience and the date was changed according to the
patient’s progress
Enloe Medical Center, Chico, CA December 2008 – January 2011
Manager, ICU/CCU
Responsible for the oversight of 3 Critical Care Units with a total of 32 beds and approximately 110 FTES.
Reporting to the Vice President of Nursing, manage all fiscal and human resource functions for a
department with an $8 Million annual budget. Maintain oversight for all departmental policy and
procedure, staff development, clinical competency and regulatory compliance. Work side by side with
union leadership to ensure successful operations, maintain strong relationships with Physicians and
external departments.
● Reorganization and expansion of the Cardiac Service Line resulting in 100% increase in patient
volume. This was accomplished by reestablishing partnerships with outlying physicians and hospitals.
● Planned and implemented VAP, Sepsis, VTE, and Hyper/Hypothermia protocols which resulted in a
reduction of Length of Stay from 8 days to 3.1 days within 6 months and reduced overall mortality.
● VAP rate averaged 8 cases per month on arrival at Enloe resulting in $50,000.00 per patient loss of
billable revenue. Working with the ICU/CCU staff, we planned and implemented an aggressive VAP
Protocol for Nursing and the Intensivists. We attained a “0” VAP rate for 8 months resulting in a
savings of over $3,200,000.00 which is being applied to replace capital budget items that were not
fundable previously.
● Catheter Related Infections fell by 75%, Catheter Days reduced by 50%.
● Sepsis Protocol planned and implemented. Changes resulted in 64 lives saved over the past twelve
months.
● Assisted with STEMI certification planning and implementation.
● Planned and implemented daily Multi Disciplinary Rounding
● Planned, Negotiated, and implemented Critical Care Intensivist Program
● Total redesign of Scheduling and Use of Supplies resulted in a savings of $200,000 over three
quarters. Premium overtime reduced from 10% to 4%.
● Employee Satisfaction Gallup:
● Increased employee participation from 37% to 93%
● Increased overall Employee Satisfaction 30%
● Thru put: working with all Managers and Directors new processes were implemented hospital wide
that reduced the average wait time for transfers from 4 hours to 90 minutes.
● Chair, Hospital Wide Restraint Use Committee: Reduced use from 10% to 4% while increasing
documentation compliance from 79% to 98% house wide.
● Organized Local Chapter of AACN
● Committee Involvement: Chair, Restraint Committee, VAP, Sepsis, VTE, Employee Engagement,
Employee Appreciation, Pharmacy Therapeutics, Infection Control, Cardiac Operations Committee,
Cardiovascular Department, Quality Compliance and HR/Employee Relations
Southern Nursing, Glade Spring, VA June 2008 December 2008
Assignment: Palo Verde Hospital, Blythe CA
Six Sigma/LEAN Consultant/Interim Director of Emergency Department
Green Belt/LEAN Evaluation, Planning and Implementation. Worked closely with Management to
evaluate, redesign, and implement changes to streamline their efficiency and compliance. ER routine
wait times reduced by 30%. Planned and implemented Flexed Staffing resulting in 35% reduction in
payroll expenses.
Sunrise Hospital, Las Vegas, NV December 2005 May 2008
Director Cardiovascular Services and Interim Director ED
Responsibilities of this position included leadership and expansion of the Cardiovascular Service Lines for
a 701 bed Regional facility. This included successful planning and implementation of the Cardiac Alert
Program. This program was very successful reducing the ED to Balloon Pump/Intervention time from 190
minutes to 90 minutes. Most recent projects included re organization of the seven departments and
processes, development and implementation of new PI/QI Plan, Outpatient Surgical Admission Plan and
JCAHO Hospital wide compliance plan. Served as Liaison with physicians and other facilities to market
Service Lines. Responsible for Leadership, expansion, and 24/7 operations for both In and Out Patient
Nursing Services for Cardiac and Diagnostic Imaging Services, which included 82 employees and 52 ICU
patient care beds. Successful development and implementation of the Stroke Alert Program provided our
patients much better outcomes assuring that Stroke protocols are initiated in the field by EMS and patient
care is expedited thru the ED, Special Procedures, and immediate admission to Neuro ICU for continued
care. This program was the Premier JCAHO accredited Stroke Alert Program for the Region. All success
of these programs was accredited to departmental vision and the staff’s ownership of the patient’s care.
Departments of responsibility: EKG, TEE, Cardiac Ultrasound/Echo, In/Outpatient Cardiology, Pre
Admission Diagnostics, Special Procedure Suites, Outpatient Recovery, Cardiac ICU, 6 Cardiac Cath
Lab Diagnostic Suites, and Diagnostic Imaging.
Mountain States Health Alliance, Johnson City, TN 1997 2002
ICU/ER Registered Nurse
Served as Resource Nurse to ensure State, Federal, and Joint Commission compliance across a newly
formed six hospital Regional system. Earned Mountain States Health Alliance Nurse of the Year Award
2002 for service excellence within this six hospital system.
LISCENSURE AND CERTIFICATION
● Licensed RN in 28 States including California
● Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and BLS, TNCC
● Six Sigma/LEAN Management Healthcare
● Registered Legal Nurse Consultant/Risk Management
Honors
● Chaired American Heart Walk, Sunrise Hospital raising over $20,000; 2007
● Manager Award for Top 10% Employee and Patient Satisfaction for HCA System; 2007
● Service Excellence Award for work related to HCA patient satisfaction, system problem solving,
patient scoring recovery, ongoing process improvement and JCAHO compliance; 2006
● MSHA Nurse of the Year Award for service excellence in a six hospital system. This award was a
direct result of my efforts to ensure that recently merged 5 hospitals were in compliance with all
JCAHO, State and Federal guidelines; 2002
● 2010 Quality Effort Award, Enloe Hospital for our efforts to improve Core Measure compliance
Professional References
Moises Carpio, M.D., FCCP., CHCQM
CEO, Pulmonologist and Certified Critical Care Intensivist Safe ICU, Inc.
Denish Verma, MD, Director of Critical Care Division
Medical Center, Chico, CA
Shelia Martin, RN, Regional CNO
Community Healthcare System
Melanie Stanton, CEO
North side Hospital, Johnson City, TN
Lisa Mesarweh, RN, CCRN Regional VP Patient Care Services
Contra Costa County, Martinez, CA
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