Through a combination of deep commitment to our veterans and significant clinical talent Amy stands as an example and leader among the nurses on our unit.

Every day, she demonstrates strong empathy and compassion, which fosters deep connections and creates a safe and supportive environment for our patients and the team. She has built strong working relationships across the organization with outstanding communication skills with the ability to articulate ideas and present information in a clear and concise manner.

A week ago, we were covering for another nurse when an aide came into the hallway, saying the patient was unresponsive and possibly seizing. Immediately, Amy moved to action and helped direct the efforts as a rapid, and then a code stroke was called. She has natural leadership abilities and smoothly integrated the efforts of the various roles until the provider arrived. Even afterward she still helped improve response effectiveness by assisting the less knowledgeable or more junior people. Eventually the patient was starting to respond and was stable enough to be transported to CAT scan for further tests and finally to the ICU.

While we were at CAT scan Amy took time to engage and comfort the patient offering reassurance and education about what the doctors were doing, the tests that were being performed, and timing around next steps.

Back on the unit, Amy answered questions and did an impromptu after-action briefing with the team. This was effective in answering many of the questions various participants had about the code - what went well and what could be improved. It increased the general knowledge level, will probably improve performance going forward, and certainly boosted team cohesion and morale.