Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
Accomplishments
Volunteer Experience
Affiliations
Timeline
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MELISSA TUCKER

Wrenshall

Summary

Compassionate and experienced nursing professional with extensive direct patient clinical expertise, exceptional leadership skills, and useful technical knowledge. Highly accomplished in precepting and educating healthcare teams to enhance patient care standards. Quality-driven and efficient, with strong interpersonal abilities. Known for attention to detail, high productivity, and efficient task completion.

Overview

17
17
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Registered Nurse Program Manager

Essentia Health St. Mary's Hospice
Duluth
11.2022 - 05.2025
  • Served as the quality, compliance, and education Program Manager for hospice home care, covering the 60-mile radius service areas of Duluth, Deer River, and Virginia, MN, as well as the residential hospice facility, Solvay Hospice House, in Duluth, MN.
  • Achieved departmental goals and objectives by instituting new processes and standards to obtain Essentia Hospice's first-ever 4-star Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) quality rating in 2025.
  • Led the completion of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization's (NHPCO) Quality Connections Program, achieving national recognition for Essentia Hospice in 2023 and 2024.
  • Assisted in the development and implementation of the department-wide, data-driven hospice Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) program, monitoring key metrics for the department.
  • Initiated and led quarterly QAPI committee meetings.
  • Completed presentations for senior leadership, highlighting key departmental milestones achieved throughout the program's fiscal year.
  • Provided guidance and support to team members in order to achieve targets within defined deadlines.
  • Performed thorough data tracking and monitoring from all patient safety event reports, including medication errors, patient falls, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, Covid-19 infections, and other safety events.
  • Monitored quality measures and reported trends for the Hospice Quality Reporting Program, including the Hospice Item Set, Consumer Assessment of Hospice Performance Survey (CAHPS), Hospice Visits Last Days of Life (HVLDL), and Hospice Care Index (HCI).
  • Championed continuous improvement initiatives, incorporating lessons learned and best practices into program operations.
  • Monitored and reported the monthly program financial performance for hospice visits during the last days of life (HVLDL) service intensity add-on fee revenue intake.
  • Authored, reviewed, and revised more than 150 hospice and palliative care policies, and standard work documents for staff direction and compliance.
  • Remodeled the hospice home care general onboarding orientation program for new hires.
  • Served on the Minnesota Network of Hospice and Palliative Care Technical Assistance Team to answer questions about hospice regulations posted on an open forum.
  • Managed the Minnesota Department of Health and Joint Commission survey readiness action plans.
  • Completed ongoing education for hospice department staff.
  • Maintained knowledge of, and ensured departmental compliance with, all hospice federal regulatory standards, including the hospice Conditions of Participation, Conditions of Payment, and national hospice standards of practice.
  • Assisted with registered nurse patient- and family-centered care plan education and development.
  • Utilized the EPIC Electronic Health Record (EHR) system to perform routine chart audits.

Registered Nurse - Hospice Home Care

Essentia Health St. Mary's Hospice
Duluth
01.2022 - 12.2022
  • Worked as a float nurse, covering nursing visits for registered nurse case managers' hospice patients in the home setting, as well as at Solvay Hospice House for all levels of hospice care.
  • Collaborated with physicians, nurses, home health aides, social workers, and other healthcare professionals to develop individualized treatment plans for each patient and family.
  • Triaged hospice calls and made immediate-need home visits on weekends.
  • Conducted intake assessments with patients and relatives to gather case history regarding hospice eligibility potential for newly referred patients.
  • Admitted patients to hospice home care.
  • Provided emotional support and comfort to families during their end-of-life journeys.
  • Advocated for patients and families by supporting and respecting their rights, values, and beliefs.
  • Participated in organizing, coordinating, and presenting nursing education at three 8-hour hospice nursing skills days.
  • Presented hospice in-service education at multiple local nursing facilities.
  • Developed a poster on skin failure at the end of life for Nursing Professional Development Day.

Registered Nurse - General Surgery

Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center
Duluth
01.2014 - 12.2022
  • Applied and demonstrated knowledge of the delivery of professional medical-surgical nursing care, including all aspects of practice, as defined by the Minnesota Board of Nursing.
  • Trained in caring for bariatric surgical patient populations.
  • Only Certified Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (CMSRN) on the nursing unit from 2015 to 2022.

Registered Nurse - Hospice/Oncology

St. Luke's Hospital
Duluth
08.2013 - 04.2014
  • Delivered holistic and compassionate end-of-life care to hospice patients and families through the use of excellent pain management techniques, and other nursing comfort measures.
  • Administered frequent intravenous transfusions, including blood products and chemotherapy medications.

Teaching Assistant

The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth
09.2012 - 05.2013
  • Assisted with clinical nursing skill competency check-offs for sophomore, junior, and senior nursing students in the skills lab.

Certified Nursing Assistant

Keystone Bluffs Assisted Living
Duluth
09.2008 - 09.2012
  • Provided warmhearted long-term care services to residents of assisted living facility.

Education

Bachelor of Science - Nursing

The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN
05-2013

Skills

  • Leadership and organization
  • Professionalism
  • Time management
  • Detail-oriented
  • Writing and editing
  • Microsoft Office Suite
  • Presentation skills
  • Reporting and documentation
  • Team collaboration
  • Effective communication
  • Patience
  • Flexibility and adaptability
  • Critical thinking
  • Strong problem-solving
  • Empathy and compassion
  • Quality improvement and compliance

Certification

  • Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certified, American Heart Association (2017-2021)
  • Certified Medical Surgical Registered Nurse, Medical Surgical Nursing Certification Board (2016-Present)
  • Public Health Nurse, Minnesota Board of Nursing (2013-Present)
  • Registered Nurse, Minnesota Board of Nursing, License #213810-3 (2013-Present)
  • Basic Life Support Certified, American Heart Association (2009-Present)

Accomplishments

  • Author of devotional in book titled, "No One But You" (scheduled release fall 2025).
  • Essentia Health St. Mary's Hospice star rating increase from 3 stars to 4 stars during role as quality manager (2025).
  • Author of devotional in book titled, "Wonder" (2024).
  • Author in Society for Women's Health Research Endometriosis for Teens Toolkit (2024).
  • Hospice Quality Certificate achievement, National Hospice Palliative Care Organization (2023).
  • Received 7 separate nominations for the “Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nurses” through the Daisy Foundation at Essentia Health St. Mary's Medical Center, Duluth, MN (2015-2020).
  • Health Occupations Students of America, Philip R. Patton HCA Healthcare scholarship recipient (2009). Only MN recipient that year.

Volunteer Experience

  • Passionately volunteered as an endometriosis educator at Denfeld High School (Duluth, MN) and East High School (Duluth, MN) through the Endometriosis Foundation of America (2020).
  • Crocheted prayer shawls for breast cancer and other gynecological cancer patients through Circle of Hope (2020-2021).
  • Raised monies for the annual Minnesota Endometriosis March through the MN Endo Warriors organization (2019, 2022).

Affiliations

  • Participant of Cloquet Mom's Group leadership team- Cloquet, MN
  • Active member of Journey Christian Church- Cloquet, MN

Timeline

Registered Nurse Program Manager

Essentia Health St. Mary's Hospice
11.2022 - 05.2025

Registered Nurse - Hospice Home Care

Essentia Health St. Mary's Hospice
01.2022 - 12.2022

Registered Nurse - General Surgery

Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center
01.2014 - 12.2022

Registered Nurse - Hospice/Oncology

St. Luke's Hospital
08.2013 - 04.2014

Teaching Assistant

The College of St. Scholastica
09.2012 - 05.2013

Certified Nursing Assistant

Keystone Bluffs Assisted Living
09.2008 - 09.2012

Bachelor of Science - Nursing

The College of St. Scholastica

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MELISSA TUCKER