Adriana has many years of experience taking care of critically ill children and has been a nurse educator for 12 years. She has worked at Children’s Specialized Hospital for just over a year, but she has facilitated so many changes and grown the staff in so many positive ways.

We are delighted to have Adriana as the Director of Professional Nursing Practice here at Children’s Specialized Hospital. Adriana is dedicated to teaching and preparing our staff; they always feel more knowledgeable confident and safer after meeting with her. Adriana has a presence on the units as a resource supporting staff with new practices and protocols; they are comfortable asking her to help; from starting difficult IVs and/or assisting with difficult blood draws to demonstrating new equipment and performing wound care for a significant open chest wound Adriana is there.

Adriana eases staff anxiety by creating job aids with step-by-step directions and reinforces and increases knowledge with educational games. Adriana teaches and communicates in a way that is fun and easy to understand; she is responsive to questions and collaboration. The staff relates to her because she is there for them whether it is late at night or early in the morning she is there.

Two specific examples of Adriana’s dedication and leadership were when she and her team collaborated with nursing staff to install the new O2 monitoring system in LTC and the hospital-wide rollout of ENfit. In LTC the nursing education team led the transition of their continuous O2 monitoring system for 50 patients working tirelessly to set up all the monitors' input alarm settings and ensure that the residents were all safely monitored. Adriana and her team were there from 7 am-11 pm. Providing education and training for ENFit the global change for enteral tube feeding devices specific to tube feedings. This standardization involved reviewing new supplies and process changes and involved coordinating with multiple departments and then educating all of the nursing at all inpatient sites.

As a leader in pediatric practice throughout the RWJBH System Adriana reviews and revises pediatric policies and brings them back to the pediatric hospital collaborative to discuss and roll out. Adrianna coordinates review classes for pediatric specialty certification and plans pediatric conferences throughout the year.

Our first pediatric oncology conference will be open to our nursing colleagues throughout the RWJBH System this fall. She is a mentor and preceptor and worked with two RNs this year to provide unique learning experiences that will prepare them for advanced nursing degrees. Adriana effectively works with different personalities and is sensitive to different needs. She leads by example and offers guidance and expertise in multiple arenas. This past summer we had our first nurse extern program and Adriana created a fabulous curriculum with didactic and clinical experiences. The 4 nurse externs were very happy and thankful for their experiences and 3 have stayed on as patient care technicians and hope to work here when they graduate.