Sara Crawford

I’m a Registered Nurse with 17+ years of experience in tertiary academic medical centers and progressive care environments, specializing in cardiothoracic surgery, advanced heart failure, LVAD, and heart/lung transplant populations. I bring strong clinical judgment across post-operative recovery, telemetry, and subtle clinical deterioration recognition.

At UCSF Health, I provide progressive care for cardiothoracic surgery, advanced heart failure, LVAD, and heart/lung transplant patients, managing recovery for CABG, valve repair/replacement, thoracic surgery, vascular procedures, and minimally invasive cardiac interventions. I coordinate escalation of care across multidisciplinary teams, support patient and family education surrounding transplant recovery and advanced therapies, and work extensively within Epic EHR and inpatient clinical workflow systems.

I also serve in resource and preceptor roles—helping open a new cardiothoracic/vascular/transplant progressive care unit, supporting onboarding into specialty progressive care workflows, and precepting new graduate nurses and nurses new to specialty practice. I’m especially motivated by healthcare workflow improvement, clinical operations, and AI-assisted clinical systems that strengthen patient care.