This Nurses Week, we give our heartfelt thanks to nurses everywhere. Here at RQI Partners, we are proud to work with dedicated nursing professionals who make a difference every day. Read some of their stories as they continue their commitment to saving more lives from sudden cardiac arrest.
Kristy Haschke, MSN, RN – Program Implementation Manager Current DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) Student Texas
“I have worked bedside in Med-Surg, Progressive Care, Women's Services, Mother Baby, Step Down, Telemetry, and Emergency Room with Texas Health Resources, HCA St. David’s Healthcare, and Ascension Health System. I have been a charge nurse and preceptor. I was a lead Life Support Programs Educator across 3 states for Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas for approximately 28,000 learners.
I led RQI, NRP, ACLS, BLS, PALS, STABLE, ENPC, CPI and PACS. I have a passion for life support and resuscitation. I have a particular special passion for the NRP Program. Helping save our smallest patients saves more than one life. It saves generations and family legacies. I was an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Bright Ideas Poster Presenter 2020 “Socially Distanced Learning: High Quality NRP Training During COVID-19."
I started working for RQI in 2021. After being an administrator of RQI at a large system, I saw and heard firsthand the profound impacts RQI can have. I wanted to help even more organizations make profound changes to the ways they save their patients. I know RQI works. I’ve seen it. I have lived it.”
Cindy Kugel, MS, RN – Senior Impact Manager Oklahoma
“I started as a switchboard operator in a hospital while in college (for Journalism!) and became fascinated with healthcare, seeing the difference the nurses made in their patients’ lives. I worked as ED tech on my days off from the switchboard and eventually made it to nursing school. Once a registered nurse, I worked in the ED, endoscopy, outpatient surgery, clinics, and a healthcare SaaS company.
I eventually received my BSN and a Master of Science in Leadership and Ethics. Once I received my MS degree, I spent a large part of my nursing career as a chief nursing officer where I was able to mentor and advocate for my nurses and clinical staff teams. My most recent nursing position was at the Department of Veteran’s Administration where I was a nurse leader for an outpatient clinic.
While at the VHA I learned that we used RQI to maintain our BLS. One of the nurse educators met me at the door of the clinic with an adult manikin under one arm and an infant manikin under the other and said “here's your manikins for RQI, where do you want them, and I’ll show you where you to go on this computer since you will be the RQI contact for your clinic. We do this every quarter.” Ugh-every quarter? I needed a better understanding of this ask since I had to get buy in from my clinical team. I went on a search to find out what RQI was. I logged on and muddled my way through my first session which was entertaining at best. If you’ll remember we didn’t have a cart, just manikins laying around on the floor and the desk! Once I finished, I thought “wow, this is amazing!”
I continued to find out as much as I could about RQI and presented this to my team who were initially not fans but eventually it all came together; not only was the nursing team sold on it, but the providers also started doing it - yes, every quarter! With this success and gaining a better understanding of RQI I was hooked. I made inquiries of my colleagues in the area to see if they had heard of this and were doing CPR the “same way we’ve always done it.” Some were, some had another digital program, but most hadn’t heard of it. I couldn’t believe it and that’s when I decided I needed to work at RQI Partners to make sure every hospital knew about this because “how are they not using it? This saves lives!!” I am very grateful to be here to help drive our mission!
Diane McDonald, RN – Impact Manager
West Virginia“I’ve been an RN for 30 years and worked in a variety of settings. My most recent clinical job was working at a Long-Term Care facility during Covid. When I accepted the position there, they told me I needed to provide them with a current BLS card. I went online and found a 5-minute class for “BLS Certification”. At the time both the employer and I thought this was acceptable.
When I saw what RQI was doing it was a real “AH-HA” moment for me. I realized I’d been doing myself and my patients a disservice because throughout my career BLS was presented to me as a box that needed to be checked rather than a skill that needed to be maintained. I knew then and there that the RQIP mission to save lives and change how CPR certification is taught was something I needed to be a part of!”
Jeanne Snelson, MSN – Senior Impact Manager
Arkansas“I answered my calling to help others when I became a Registered Nurse in 2001. I worked a total of 13 years at CommonSpirit St. Vincent Infirmary Little Rock, Arkansas and Conway Regional Medical Center, Conway, Arkansas. Over the course of my bedside nursing career, I experienced numerous cardiac arrests. Some were successful and some needed improvement. I often found the unsuccessful code situations were the result of the gap between certification courses.
I received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2014, and my Masters of Science in Nursing – Nurse Educator in 2019. I chose to work for RQI Partners to continue to answer my call by educating nurses, nurse educators, and administration on RQI’s quality resuscitation program. RQI’s low dose, high frequency model is an investment in the success of nurses and patient outcomes. The cardiac arrests situations I experienced at bedside can be prevented and that is my “Why” on working for RQI Partners for almost 4 years.”
Judy Miller, BSN, RN – Senior Impact Manager
Oklahoma“I’ve been a nurse since 2005, serving in a variety of roles: Cardiac Care, Intensive Care, Surgical ICU, Case Management, Primary Care, Critical Care Education and now changing the landscape of CPR Education across the country.
I chose to work for RQI Partners because I am excited about the opportunity to create change nationwide regarding CPR education and bringing the reality for more lives to be saved from sudden cardiac arrest.”
Carrie Burns, MSN, RN – Impact Manager
Florida“During my 11 years at Ascension Sacred Heart in Pensacola, FL, I worked in neurology/neurosurgery, critical care, PACU, and served as the stroke coordinator during my last 7 years before transitioning to RQIP. I loved working with our stroke patients and helping them navigate care. Our team also built a comprehensive stroke program, from the ground up! This was and has been a tremendous blessing for our community.
I chose to work at RQIP because I wanted to grow and challenge myself in a different aspect of nursing. Most importantly, though, I wanted to help hospitals navigate their quality journey, build a strong resuscitation program, increase patient safety, and ultimately save lives. I’m thankful for my journey, everyone I have met along the way, and the wonderful hospitals I get to work with each day.”
Karen Linder, RN, BSN – Impact Manager
South Carolina“I started my nursing career in 1991. My first job as a nurse was at Roper St. Francis Healthcare System in Charleston, SC. I started out on a Medical Surgical Unit for several years and worked in other clinical areas such as Oncology, Endoscopy and a Surgical Unit for Pre and Post-op procedures. I later took on the role of Clinical Manager for the Ambulatory 23hr Observation Unit which was a new concept at the time when Laparoscopic Surgeries for Gallbladder, Hernia Repair, Appendectomies first started being done. In 1998, I transferred into the Information Technology Department and assisted with the implementation of the first Electronic Medical Record System for Roper Hospital. I worked in Nursing Informatics for 16 years.
In 2013 I embarked on a new career path as a nurse and went to work for IBM and joined a team on the Watson Healthcare side. I managed, implemented, and trained on various systems from Real-time Clinical Surveillance, Micromedex with Watson Assistant as well Quality Programs that help Hospitals with process improvements such as Mortality, Readmissions, Sepsis, and Surgical Complications.
In February of 2021, I joined RQI Partners. Although I have been working in healthcare in various roles for many years, RQI Partners mission really spoke to me. In my role as an Impact Manager, I felt that I could really make an impact on saving lives. RQI Partners has provided me the opportunity of getting back to the heart of why I wanted to become a nurse ever since I was six years old. I am so thankful to be apart of such a great company and its mission.”
