Maria Cristina Pinero, BSN, RN

I am a registered nurse with over 25 years of experience in caring for children with cancer.  I began my career at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in 2005. My focus has been providing children and their families with individual and innovative care while promoting nursing excellence.

As an expert nurse in the Pediatric Ambulatory Care Clinic (PACC), I work towards the coordination of clinical operations. I have implemented ways to improve nursing practice and streamline workflows in the outpatient setting. I helped with initiative that decreased wait-times and total time in treatment beds. This improved the overall patient experiences in PACC.  I was also part of updating treatment room layout to improve the location of essential equipment that is used at bedside.  Nurses are now able to review, scan, and document conveniently at bedside.  I provide a thoughtful approach to nurse staffing efficiency and quality patient care.

I am also passionate about the bedside nurse’s professional development from beginner to expert.  I started and led the Professional Development Committee, which guides nurses from orientation through their professional development. I am also an Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Nursing (APHON) chemotherapy/biotherapy instructor.  I promote quality nursing care that adheres to APHON standards to maintain quality and safety.

To help nurses improve their practice, I created a nursing orientation tool and a Peer Review system.  To increase nursing productivity; I designed a Pediatric Ambulatory Care Center (PACC) outpatient acuity scale (a tool to measure how much care patients need in the PACC clinic), created a Resource RN role (a senior nurse that can assist with complex patient care) and strengthened the Charge Nurse role. My focus remains on providing exemplary bedside care and empowering nurses as they navigate their practice and careers.