Carrie O’Connell
November 2019
Carrie
O'Connell
,
RN, BSN
Telemetry
St. Luke's Hospital
Chesterfield
,
MO
United States
My husband came in and I have been with him every day. His nurse has been so nice, smart, caring, and quick to help any way that my husband needed. That shows Miss Carrie must be doing the right stuff. Everything was excellent including how his room was kept clean, technicians were called in to take care of machines properly, his nurses were the best. The first visit for my husband and everything was excellent. So, whoever is in charge of this floor is doing a fabulous job. Thank you, Carrie. Keep up the good work.
***
Carrie supports her staff in many different ways. When I interviewed with her, she made it a big point to say that we are a busy unit and need to work as a team, which includes our techs. We don't take advantage of them, we understand that we can't care for our patients without them and if that's not something I could do, this wasn't the place for me. Having been a tech previously, I really appreciated and respected that.
Carrie looks for the individual strengths in her team and encourages them. She advocates for staffing and budget and all the things that are absolutely necessary to the success of our team and care of our patients. She is approachable and positive and goes the extra mile for her staff. Carrie isn't a boss, she isn't just a manager, she's a leader!
***
Carrie has been our nurse manager for a year now and our division is beyond lucky to have such a wonderful person and nurse as the head of our unit. When we found out that we were getting a new manager, the usual fear crept across the unit of what's going to happen? Who's going to be our leader? What will the by like?
From day one, Carrie showed the staff that she was fully committed to the 6600 lifestyle. The staff took to her immediately. I've heard staff make comments on how "Carrie is so awesome", "I want to be like Carrie when I become a seasoned RN" to "Carrie is my spirit animal". You can rarely find her in her office because she is always out on the floor doing something! She has been our teacher when it comes to chest tubes. She will go into the patient's room with the nurse and do hands-on training to make sure it's set up right and she helps us learn how to drain certain chest tubes because we don't get them that often.
Everyone knows that Carrie will drop what she is doing to help staff or a patient with a problem they're having. She always puts her staff and the patients first. She always has a positive attitude even when everything is going wrong and she will be the first to volunteer to stay extra if it will help the patients, nurses, and techs feel supported and cared for. She brings in candy every Friday evening for "happy hour" and everyone looks forward to that. She completes patient rounds every day and the patients really like getting a visit from her. Carrie helps them with their immediate needs and then straightens up the room before she leaves. Carrie is an amazing nurse leader for her continuous efforts to make our division the best place to be.
***
Carrie supports her staff in many different ways. When I interviewed with her, she made it a big point to say that we are a busy unit and need to work as a team, which includes our techs. We don't take advantage of them, we understand that we can't care for our patients without them and if that's not something I could do, this wasn't the place for me. Having been a tech previously, I really appreciated and respected that.
Carrie looks for the individual strengths in her team and encourages them. She advocates for staffing and budget and all the things that are absolutely necessary to the success of our team and care of our patients. She is approachable and positive and goes the extra mile for her staff. Carrie isn't a boss, she isn't just a manager, she's a leader!
***
Carrie has been our nurse manager for a year now and our division is beyond lucky to have such a wonderful person and nurse as the head of our unit. When we found out that we were getting a new manager, the usual fear crept across the unit of what's going to happen? Who's going to be our leader? What will the by like?
From day one, Carrie showed the staff that she was fully committed to the 6600 lifestyle. The staff took to her immediately. I've heard staff make comments on how "Carrie is so awesome", "I want to be like Carrie when I become a seasoned RN" to "Carrie is my spirit animal". You can rarely find her in her office because she is always out on the floor doing something! She has been our teacher when it comes to chest tubes. She will go into the patient's room with the nurse and do hands-on training to make sure it's set up right and she helps us learn how to drain certain chest tubes because we don't get them that often.
Everyone knows that Carrie will drop what she is doing to help staff or a patient with a problem they're having. She always puts her staff and the patients first. She always has a positive attitude even when everything is going wrong and she will be the first to volunteer to stay extra if it will help the patients, nurses, and techs feel supported and cared for. She brings in candy every Friday evening for "happy hour" and everyone looks forward to that. She completes patient rounds every day and the patients really like getting a visit from her. Carrie helps them with their immediate needs and then straightens up the room before she leaves. Carrie is an amazing nurse leader for her continuous efforts to make our division the best place to be.