Victoria is one of our amazing wound ostomy and continence nurses (WOCN). She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Arizona Magna Cum Laude and is a member of the national nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau. She is a certified WOCN and has worked at our hospital for 12 years. She takes an active role in supporting our quality initiatives such as decreasing hospital acquired pressure injuries (decreased by 40%).

Victoria sees patients in both adults and pediatrics that are consulted for difficult wound and ostomy situations. She assists with negative pressure therapy and operating room cases. She provides education and training to patients with new ostomies and gastric tubes.

Victoria coordinates complex discharges with doctors and case management to provide the best success for our patients and families. She sees patients in Pediatrics Hem-Onc clinic and Childrens Resource Clinic for wounds, ostomies, and continence training. She teaches classes to new hires for wound care, negative pressure therapy, ostomy care and gastrostomy care. She is the lead for the Skin and Wound Committee that meets monthly to review skin issues and concerns in the adult population, review pressure injuries numbers and interventions to improve numbers, and to create action plans and implement education about best practice.

Victoria is highly respected for her knowledge, patience, and most of all her ability to care. She is an expert WOCN nurse who cares for complex patients, incorporating advanced knowledge and technical skills. She was instrumental in developing a simulation authentically representing factors nurses encounter in cases of opioid induced respiratory depression and CO2 retention. The simulation was designed for remote delivery to RNs working with medical-surgical patients on PCA to provide clinical experiences for nursing education and use of Healthcare Simulation Best Practices. She was in the video and was one of the nurses. This program is for reducing failure to rescue events. The education addresses teaching patients and staff to make sure patients have EtCO2 monitoring on when the patients are on a PCA pump. The video will enhance the quality of nursing practice and increase the EtCO2 monitoring which has been proven to decrease the number of rapid responses and code arrests by providing early warning alarms.

Victoria is a true advocate for our patients. She is one of the nurses that has the art of caring to a science.  She has a heart filled with compassion for our patients and families. She is the nurse that comes into the ED on her day off to help patient so that the fistula is contained or that a patient has an ostomy bag on that is not leaking. She enjoys caring for patients and helping through a trying time in their lives especially our patients with new ostomies and helping them adjust.

Victoria is also the mother of young children and volunteers at their schools. She does Pack a Backpack through her son's school every year which provides backpacks filled with school supplies to children who need them. She has her children help her pick a backpack and the supplies. She loves to teach her kids to give back to the community. She volunteers with Boy Scouts. She participates in community cleanup projects where they gather trash and clean up certain areas. Her family makes care packages for the homeless. About once a year they will make bags with food, water, socks (sometime shoes), blankets, sunscreen, and hats to give out to any homeless people they see. She does random donations of toys and blankets to the hospital for our pediatric patients.

Victoria fought to get a product into our hospital to improve patient outcomes by increasing wound healing and preventing further damage. She goes to the Children’s Resource Clinic three times a month to provide expert knowledge on wounds. She was able to get a bowel irrigation education translated into Spanish. She donates, fundraises and/or walks for the Alzheimer association yearly as it runs in her family. She helps her family with members that cannot function by themselves. Around the Holidays she donates food to the Salvation Army for Thanksgiving dinner, and she adopts a family for Christmas. She is so giving and continually volunteers for the Tucson community.

Victoria is a mentor on wound care and ostomy care to the physicians, nurses, technicians, and everyone that works at the hospital. She is an expert in wound and ostomy care and facilitates a quarterly skin survey to help improve patient outcomes and maintain magnet status. I have seen wounds that she has managed that have gone from huge to healed wounds. Managing fistulas is extremely difficult. She is extremely creative and innovative when it comes to developing a system to manage the drainage from a fistula.

One of her fistula patients nominated her for a DAISY Award and wrote, “She is an awesome nurse who took care of me for 5 months curing my fistula. I thank your hospital for having a nurse like her, she is like an angel helping people out. I thank God for putting her in my path. Thank you to this nurse for helping me heal.”

She is a true collaborator and works with physicians, nurses, occupational and physical therapists, nutritionists, case managers, and social workers on a daily basis in order to deliver the very best care for her patients. In this regard, she sets a standard as a role model for all who are around her. She believes all patients are entitled to kindness and respect and she provides that daily.

Victoria is a hard worker and advocates for the patients and staff. I admire her dedication to the patient, the hospital and to the staff.