Karen Delgado

• How did you join Baxter RCS?

I joined when we were in a pandemic, I lived in Quito and had applied for that city because they needed a nursing leader there.

I was waiting to be called to Quito and it turned out that they called me, but to work in the city of Guayaquil, then the Human Talent person contacted me and told me that at that time they needed a nursing leader for the city of Guayaquil because the pandemic hit hard there and whoever was leading left the post, everyone was worried and panicked due to the lack of knowledge about COVID-19.

For me it was a bit complex because I was located in Quito, I had my friends, it was basically changing the city and it was not very easy at that time. At first I took a long time making the decision but then I said "it's a challenge, it won't be easy, but I'm going to take it!", I called Human Talent to say I was interested and the whole selection process began to arrive on 11 May 2020.

I had visited Guayaquil when I was little because I have family in this city, but I had never lived there.

• How long have you been working at Baxter RCS?

I have been here since May 2020, that is, one year and seven months.

• How do you think RCS stands to be the Best Place to Work?

I can tell you from my point of view that he is at the highest level and it is because he not only thinks about the patients but also about his collaborators, they go much further on the personal issue, in that his collaborators feel very good, that you feel like coming to work and that your leader talks a lot with you. On that level, I truly believe that Baxter is one of the best places to work.

• Have you recommended or would you recommend RCS as a place to work?

Yes, I am very proud and I always recommend it. I'm always on my social media saying that Baxter RCS is the Best Place to Work because that's how I feel, and I think it's also the perspective of the rest of the team here at the Renal Units.

So yes, I always recommend it, I would recommend it and I will continue to recommend it because, within the experiences that I have had in other jobs, I can say “Baxter RCS if it strives to be the Best Place to Work and if it is in the conditions for their collaborators sit in that environment”.

• What is the most important part of your job?

I work as in RCS as a nursing leader in the city of Guayaquil and I consider my position to be very important because nursing is the one who makes the turn in RCS, it is the one who does dialysis to patients, it is one of the most important roles that can be in a Renal Clinic.

• How has your relationship been with the different areas of RCS?

It has been very good because the support of each of the areas has been felt, there is good communication and everything is for the same purpose, keeping our patients happy, providing quality care and warmth.

So the link with other areas must be very good, and actually it has been very good.

• How has RCS influenced your family, personal and professional lifestyle?

Professionally, I have strengthened my leadership because within the company the perception of my staff has helped me recognize many things as a leader and I have been able to strengthen in terms of communication. Previously, I was the leader of other clinics and there were things that I did not know about communication, especially the tools that Baxter gives us, such as the ACE, a very important tool.

I think that professionally I have improved my leadership to take it in a good way. On the personal side, it gave me the opportunity to be close to my family because I lived in Quito and I stayed too far away to spend time with them, I hadn't seen them for months, and now I'm very close to them and that was something very positive that Baxter RCS gave me by bringing me to Guayaquil.

• Do you have or have you had direct contact with patients in your Renal Unit? Yes/no How has the Patient Experience been transformed in our care processes at RCS in Ecuador?

My job is to lead a team that intervenes directly with patients and is always there for them. My role is also to organize patient shifts and, honestly, the change has been seen, I say this because of the surveys; When I just started, we had some not-so-satisfactory surveys from patients because it was precisely during the pandemic and since then there have been changes, but today patients are very happy to be treated by Baxter RCS, apart from patients who have just been admitted with us we try to give them the best presentation of our house, which is the clinic, they leave happy and we know that their comments are excellent, "how good Baxter is", "I had already heard that it is a great place", "you they make you feel very good” then, yes, it has improved a lot.

• In the performance of your work, how do you feel that you fulfill our mission of Saving and Sustaining Lives?

Because of the care we give our patients, I am a nurse and personally, it has allowed me to develop in my work with what I like, which is the vocation of being a nurse. So, that makes us live day by day for our patients because it is not like in a hospital where the patient is today and then you don't see him again, but we are like a family, since we see these patients every week passing a day, then that makes our vocation allow us to fulfill our mission of Saving and Sustaining Lives. The attention we give to our patients is with quality and warmth!

• Taking into account the sociocultural context of your country (Ecuador), how would you describe the work of RCS in Ecuador?

Baxter RCS is a company that is always characterized by integration, so regardless of the sociocultural condition, we always focus on providing the best service.

When there was the COVID issue, we had to isolate the patients a bit, however, we were always there, worrying about them and their families. The pandemic was an issue that hit us quite hard, I was a recent arrival, I did not know the organization's processes very well, but it was very enriching because we all came together to work as a team to make our patients feel good.

• What advice would you give to a professional starting their career?

That you start with something, at the beginning it will be difficult, but you must start from the smallest to gradually grow and achieve your goals. So, you have to move on, there is nothing better than fulfilling a mission.

• Do you have any motivational message you want to share with us?

Let's continue, I love our mission of Saving and Sustaining Lives and that very collaborative theme that characterizes Baxter, not only for its patients but for its collaborators, so let's continue with that beautiful mission to achieve our goals.