This nurse models what it means to keep the patient and their loved ones at the center of everything she does. She has helped and continues to educate staff on communication techniques to aid in customer service initiatives within the department. As a colleague, she is always willing to help in order to support her colleagues, our patients, and their families. On a particular occasion, this nurse was leading new processes related to the COVID outbreak, updates and educational processes related to stroke care, managing A3’s, all while supporting the emotional toll frontline staff were experiencing during COVID-19. Her peers and staff have described her as someone who is always willing to listen to concern or opportunities. Beyond listening, acting on these opportunities within the department to create a healthier environment for our staff and patients. This is a true testament to this employee’s dedication to the organization.

This nurse is a CNIII, who is a certified in Emergency Nursing and a Geriatric Resource Nurse. As a Clinical Lead within the department, this nurse ensures staff and patients feel heard and cared for. She oversees several departmental initiatives and priorities, including stroke, geriatrics, moderate sedation compliance, OESO, councils, huddles, psychiatry, quality management and lab; these are just a few of her responsibilities and skill sets within the department. She is a leader and role model in quality management and A3 thinking within the department. She has excelled as a coach within the department for real-time problem solving and, through this, has worked to standardize stroke care within the department. Her A3 thinking has led to organizational practice changes for nurses, which increased documentation compliance and led to a successful Joint Commission survey for stroke and hip fractures.

Over the course of 2019-2020, this RN was tasked with a goal to improve geriatric care within the Emergency Department. This RN took off running by becoming a Geriatric Resource RN for the Emergency Department and began recruiting others to serve as resources. With her leadership and the help of a DUHS multidisciplinary team, this Emergency Department began its journey toward Geriatric Accreditation. Her ability to ensure all requirements were met was impressive. New policies and procedures were created, and education was implement related to geriatric care. As of January 2020, the DRH Emergency Department is an Accredited Emergency Department in Geriatrics — only the third in the state. Though the award was presented, this RN did not stop there. She is continuing to work with the multidisciplinary team toward continuous improvement for further accreditation related to geriatrics.

This nurse spent countless hours working with a multidisciplinary team to achieve Emergency Department Geriatric Accreditation. This took collaboration with the Emergency Department Nurse Manager, Medical Director, Geriatrics Clinical Nurse Specialist, Physicians, Nurses, Nursing Assistants, Facilities, and Materials Management. She worked with materials management and environmental services to ensure equipment and supplies are readily available, such as condom catheters, bedside commodes, hearing-assist devices, non-slip socks, and more. She worked with facilities to ensure large analog clocks were placed in each room, to assist with sun-downing. She was an integral part of the collaboration between nursing and providers ensuring all education and training requirements were met. Her leadership allowed for the smooth and successful achievement of the accreditation.

This nurse was caring for a patient who was being evaluated in the Emergency Department and, subsequently, had an allergic reaction. The nurse discovered the swelling and immediately notified the attending provider, who assessed the patient right away, ordered appropriate medications and decided that intubating the patient would be appropriate. In the end, the close one-on-one attention, the frequent assessment of the patient, and the therapeutic relationship this nurse had with the patient and family made for a quick identification of an adverse reaction. The patient’s condition did thankfully improve before leaving to go to the ICU. This RN had been able to spend the entire time with the patient and family, using her expertise to explain each step of care to them as well as comforting them during the stressful time. She went above and beyond and remained with them until after midnight, which was an hour after her shift was over, to ensure that all went well before they were transferred to ICU.

This nurse can be simply described in the words of Jim Rohn: “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” It is evident this nurse knows and cares as expressed!