About Me

A naturally caffeinated, eternal optimist, I have embraced my leadership style of proceed until apprehended.
Using Healthcare Informatics and teamwork to shape culture and inspire change.

I am a passionate, accomplished nurse leader and program manager with over twenty years of management experience in both acute and ambulatory care.

I pride myself on using an amalgamation of creativity, humor, and analytical thinking to ensure my projects are as efficient, impactful, and as seemeless as possible. 



Every day brings with it an opportunity to reimagine. I break for meticulous role outs, crazy ideas, and big finishes.

How I Can Transform Your Organization

Finding Solutions Through Teamwork Is What It’s All About

UI/UX Tool Developement

There are times when you need a tool created just for you. I analyze the needs of the project. If the available tool isn’t exactly right, I’ll make something better.

Staff Development

Inspiring employees to adopt an innovative mindset is at the heart of my leadership style. I create strong, independent, motivated teams through conscientious, positive guidance.

Workflow Redesign

Improving processes by understanding issues from multiple perspectives; applying real experience from a variety of care settings. 

Words From My Previous Employers

I am blessed as my former bosses are cherished friends.

Cara’s work is phenomenal. She continues to amaze me with her vision and creativity. Cara is a forward thinker and truly exemplifies what we need more of in leadership

Julie C. - CNO

Though she has taken new roles, Cara is still the person I turn to when I need help with a project. She is my creative partner and never hesitates to help. I love working with her.

Karina K. - CNO

While I miss working with Cara every day, I am grateful for her contribution to our organization, and for our friendship.

Shelly L. - CNO

Job Flyer Created for Hospital - 614 Clinical Hours

During my 614 clinical hours I came to realize how badly the nursing shortage was affecting senior leadership as well as staff nurses. After sitting down and discussing the carious talent options with the Chief Nursing Officer, I created this flyer so that she could distribute it to local nursing schools and attract new talent to her hospital.

Alert Guide for Vital Signs Created for Medical Assistants

I created this tool when some of our physicians complained that their medical assistants, who legally cannot perform assessments in California, were not always clear on which abnormal vital signs they should report. This quick and easy guide makes assessment unnecessary and gives clear indications for reporting. It has been added to Providence's VS Clinical Policy.

EPB Guide for RN's in Team Based Care Roll

I created this tool for a team that needed to meet monthly and discuss EBP findings. This ask was challenging as the nurses had limited experience with EBP. The team leader, Alison, reports that this guide has empowered the group to participate in EBP meetings. She's also a big fan of the 5 A's: Ask, Access, Appraise, Alison, Assess

Flu Flyer and Playbook Diagram for Flu Drive Thru

I created these tools when one of my clinics wanted to start a flu drive through in one of their parking lots. The tool has been modified by several other sites to create similar events, and even a vaccine mega-site.

Current State - Providence Plaza Specialties

This workflow underutilizes the patient portal, and overutilizes back office medical assistants that could be supporting providers via remote tasking assistance.

Future State - Providence Plaza Specialties

I designed this workflow to illustrate what patient flow could look like with optimized e-portal use, e-literacy assessment, and personal health records. In this model, fewer boots on ground medical assistance are needed, and the workflow is far cleaner while still being highly patient-centered.
Removing the medical assistant form the routine workflow may be possible one day. Should this become a reality, a clinic like the one I visited, which had 2 MA's per provider (50 in all), could reduce their numbers to 5 in-person MA's or less per workday. Another 10 MA's could support the 25 providers remotely.