Darianna Mahecha is a member of Ocean Family Gastroenterology, a division of GANJ, located in Toms River, NJ.

A certified advanced practice nurse, Darianna Mahecha is a skilled bilingual health care expert with strong academic training and professional experience in gastroenterology. In addition to performing physical examinations and analyzing test results, she works with physicians to determine an appropriate diagnosis and patient care plan. Throughout her career, Darianna has built a reputation for collaborating with physicians, accurately interpreting patient symptoms and test results, and developing a unique rapport with patients and their families.

Her attention to detail and excellent organizational skills were honed at Middlesex Monmouth Gastroenterology in Freehold, NJ, where she served as the sole nurse practitioner collaborating with six physicians and caring for a multigenerational patient population. In addition to ordering and analyzing diagnostic tests, Darianna prescribed medication, helped develop courses of treatment, and educated patients and family members on management of acute and chronic illnesses.

As a registered nurse at Ocean Medical Center in Brick Township, NJ, she provided compassionate patient care from admission to discharge, including patient assessments, managing care plans, patient education and discharge support. While attending to patients recovering from surgical procedures, she facilitated wound care, ostomy care, pressure ulcer prevention and pain management. Prior to this position, Darianna was a registered nurse at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, where she managed care for post-operative patients and stroke patients from initial recovery through discharge — a position which often entailed managing rapidly changing conditions.

Darianna earned a nurse practitioner MSN (adult/gerontology) from Monmouth University, a BSN degree from MCPHS University in Boston, MA; and BS degrees in nursing, forensic science and biology from the University of New Haven in West Haven, CT.