Barbara is the type of nurse who exemplifies all the DAISY Award criteria in her daily practice. As a Veteran and long-time VA employee, she displays a strong Commitment to caring for all Veterans with Integrity, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence. She is a Staff Nurse Lead/Charge RN in the APU and leads by example. She maintains an atmosphere of professionalism, positivity, helpfulness, and teamwork. Barbara is always organized and prepared. She has willingly gone to Endoscopy to help when a volunteer was needed. She checks on her sister unit, PACU, daily and pitches in or finds help when they need it. Barbara is the liaison for our department for other procedural areas that need our assistance with pre-op and/or recovery. She is honest and practices with high integrity and can be trusted to evaluate the situation and provide help when we are able. Very rarely does she say no. She is highly organized and finds a way to make it work, which is very challenging in an 8-bed “temporary” unit when she is accustomed to having 26 beds available.

Recently, Barbara reported to me that her post-op eye surgery patient had expressed Suicidal Ideation and he needed to be seen in the eye clinic within a pre-determined timeframe. She maintained the veteran's privacy and, through the proper channels, got him the mental health evaluation and care he needed and also ensured that he was seen by his Ophthalmology provider on time. He was initially unwilling to participate in his evaluation but with Barbara’s calm, patient, compassionate demeanor, he cooperated and was able to be discharged with a safety plan and family and provider support that he otherwise would not have gotten.

Barbara then shared with her peers the processes to get immediate Mental Health evaluations for our Veterans and about the new program addressing pain as a cause for suicidal ideation.