Nursing

Susan Polka

Susan Polka

MSN, RN, CNS, CCRN-K
Specialty: Liver Transplant
Hospital Affiliation: Health System
Professional Governance: Evidence-Based Practice Council

 

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Abstracts/ Presentations

Minimizing CLABSIs in a Transplant-Surgical ICU with an Online Active Daily Management (ADM) Tool. National Teaching Institute. Houston, TX. May 2022

Nurse Led Reduction of Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections in a Transplant Surgical ICU. National Teaching Institute. Houston, TX. May 2022

Strokes in the Unusual Populations. Stroke Certified Registered Nurse (SCRN) Review Course on the laboring mother. Los Angeles, CA. February 25, 2016.

Guest Lecture W18 - N20. UCLA School of Nursing. March 2018.

Supporting Sleep for Health and Healing. 2016 Western Institute of Nursing Conference. Anaheim, CA. April 6-9, 2016.

Supporting Sleep for Health and Healing. 15th Annual UCLA Research and Evidence-Based Practice Conference. Los Angeles, CA. September 2016.

Kids on the Move. 17th Annual UCLA Research and EBP Conference. Los Angeles, CA. September 2018.

Publications

Landis, W. P., Morgan, R. W., Reeder, R. W., Graham, K., Kirkpatric, T., Polka, S., Siems, A., Diddle, J. W., Pollack, M. M., Maa, T., Fernandez, R. P., Yates, A. R., Tilford, B., Ahmed, T., Meert, K. L., Schneiter, C., Bishop, R., Mourani, P. M., Naim, M. Y., Friess, S., Burns, C., Manga, A., … Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (CPCCRN) Investigators the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute ICU-RESUScitation Project Investigators (2020). Variability in chest compression rate calculations during pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Resuscitation, 149, 127–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2020.01.040

Awards

2021 Drivers of Change Award - Clinical Nurse Specialist Team, UCLA Health, CENTER

2021 We are committed to a compassionate, collaborative and professional environment of care for our patients, families and each other. Thank you for your commitment to excellence

AACN’s CCRN Exam Development Committee (EDC)

2020 Service as an Ambassador in Fiscal Year 2020 AACN

2020 Recognize you for your strong collaboration and support of organizational needs

Exemplars

  • Collaborated with infection prevention, nursing leadership, physician and unit champions to decrease central-line associated bloodstream infections in the surgical transplant ICU by 38%. 
  • Collaborated with our falls SME, unit leadership to develop a unit-based fall prevention rounding tool for nurse leads in the transplant acute care unit. 
  • Worked with our Evidenced-Based Practice Council (EBPC) to develop a CHG refusal standardized workflow for UCLA. 
  • Increasing education to improve neurodevelopmental needs for infants post cardiac surgery.
  • Decreasing CLABSI in PICU/PCTU
  • Decreasing HAPU in PICU/PCTU
  • Worked with our Evidenced-Based Practice Council (EBPC) to develop a CHG refusal standardized workflow for UCLA.