Chris Burr is amazing how he can foresee needs of the staff, his patients, and their families. He also foresees things that the doctors and ancillary staff need to create the best flow in the unit. Chris is my charge nurse about a fifth of the month and everything runs like clockwork. He is the most productive charge nurse in our unit. He has a keen sense of seeing the whole picture. What many of us miss, he can see and creates the environment that is so incredibly wonderful to work in. I look forward to coming to work when I know he is on schedule.
Chris is also an exceptional bedside nurse; I witness him on a regular basis providing compassionate care especially to the oldest of all of our patients. He is extremely gentle in his touch on their fragile bodies and is especially diligent with our non-verbal stoke patients. The best I see in Chris is as I watch him advocate for his patients. He is both passionate and professional in his verbiage and attitude. I cannot give you a specific event because he is consistent with his quality of care.
Chris is fantastic with our involuntarily committed patients who are either having their own mental episodes or have overdosed on their medications. Being a young person, Chris is able to empathize with these patients. He remains extremely professional and continues to teach them coping skills but also lets them know that they, too, can work through the issue that brought them in a vibe that the patients can understand.
On the strong side, Chris is our go-to guru when it comes to anything computer or machine related. He is consistently available to all the staff. I even called him at home one time when he was off duty because I could not get a particular bedside machine to work that was crucial to the patient. He fixed it over the phone.
On a personal note, I was honored to take care of Chris's mom while she was in the unit. That in turn gave me the opportunity to take care of him as my own customer. I saw his pain and his ability to step away from the bedside and to trust his fellow co-workers with his mother. We hugged him in the end as he grieved which painfully gives him the ability to understand what it is like to be a family-member in our unit. Chris is dynamic. I have never used this word describing a fellow nurse. He is the number one dynamic nurse I have ever worked with. He is what First Health wants in an employee!