The Acute Medical Unit has developed a strong team, and the global pandemic only made it stronger. The entire team was asked to become the COVID unit from that point forward. The team took a moment, processed their concerns, and then developed a cohesive and collaborative team that cared for our sickest and most needy patients during the remaining 18 months of the many COVID surges. You might think that the staff would ask to be floated off the unit. No, not so. The Acute Medical Team stuck together. They developed processes to keep their equipment safe. Processes for communication. Processes to allow visitors when absolutely needed. They built strong relationships with our physician partners. They built a team that was so strong they opted to stay together and assist each other through the toughest and even the busiest of moments only to come out on top proving their resilience and clinical excellence. They had the philosophy that we are working so well together, that it is best for us to continue working as a team, and better serve our patients. We saw them use technology to help them care compassionately for their patients and families. We saw them jump in when a patient was getting up alone and at risk of falling only to prevent that fall. In fact, during the last COVID surge, this team did not have any patient falls. That's over a year!

During the past year, this team even found many opportunities to celebrate professional successes. They celebrated DAISY Awards, DAISY Nurse Leader Award, BSN Graduations, ANCC Certifications, Sunflower Awards, Great Catches, and APPLs progressions. It is my honor to call each and every one of the staff members on the Acute Medical Unit a colleague. I would very much request the honor to recognize this team with the Annual DAISY Team Award for 2022.