When the pandemic hit, Tamara Saldana, RN, jumped into action to ensure her primary patients—immunosuppressed children fighting cancer—could count on safe and continued care.
As a gatekeeper for the Cure 4 the Kids Foundation clinic, Saldana maintains compliance and regulatory standards and oversees infection prevention and control measures. More often than not, you’ll find her in the parking lot coordinating COVID-19 testing for patients, families and employees. This organized process ensures prompt test results so patients can safely receive chemotherapy and other treatments. Saldana is also responsible for cleaning and disinfection practices within the clinic, successfully preventing COVID-19 transmissions to date.
Saldana finds great satisfaction in developing procedures that will improve quality of care. With an extensive background in quality assurance, risk management and patient safety, Saldana created a detailed, 73-page report outlining scenarios and risks, as well as procedures to continue essential operations needed by cancer patients. This included instituting a screening process staffed by certified nursing assistants and qualified nursing students to monitor for potential concerns.
This formal checklist for managing the outbreak quickly became an essential educational tool, not only for the clinic but the entire community, with the local health department using it as an example for other organizations.
Saldana may have never thought she’d be an infection control nurse during a pandemic, but there’s no one better suited for such a role in keeping Nevada’s most vulnerable children safe.
Nursing Runner-up
Bobbi Ready, MBA, MSN, RN Executive Director, On Demand Medicine, Southwest Medical Associates