Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge." (Simon Sinek) Dena Martin is the epitome of a servant leader. She consistently puts the needs of her staff and the needs of the patients first. She recognizes that in order to take the best possible care of patients, employees need to feel supported, understood, celebrated, and nurtured. She does all of this and more. She is genuinely interested and concerned about our well-being as people--both inside the hospital and outside of it. Whether it's encouraging us to take time for ourselves, encouraging us to get certified or take on a new responsibility within our unit, or covering for us during a family emergency, she makes it clear that we are more than just a number on a spreadsheet.

Dena is a clinically competent, open-minded, collaborative, trustworthy leader who has quickly gained the respect of our unit and leaders across UVA Health. Accessible, available, and responsive to the needs of others, encouraging critical thinking and problem-solving for individuals and teams. Dena is the kind of manager who is accessible to staff but simultaneously supports staff making independent decisions that are within their scope and escalating appropriately in her absence. She encourages us to creatively problem-solve our concerns. An example of this is when we have had trouble covering the Christmas holiday. While understanding that we have to be staffed for the holiday, she allowed us to find solutions, such as splitting the workday with another person, to work best for the individuals and the unit.

She is always encouraging us to think outside the box for creative solutions. During recent staffing challenges, Dena has become extremely innovative. Before anyone else was doing this, Dena took it upon herself to find alternative ways to staff her 2 units- 6 North and the NNICU. Covid numbers were expected to increase and put significant strain on the ICUs. Dena worked with me and the 6N NEC to develop a plan to crosstrain a small group of the nurses on 6N to work in the ICU if needed. We did a review of the key items that they would be missing for ICU care, such as drips and ventilators. She scheduled a 4-hour class with me to review important drugs and drips, differences in frequency of monitoring, and ventilator alarms/modes. We then went on to the unit and were able to do some in the moment teaching about mixing drips, interoperability, and seeing ventilators first hand. This group was then scheduled to work 2 shifts in the ICU with a preceptor before they would work independently in the ICU. This group and numerous others were cross-trained to the ICU in case they were needed. We were able to utilize them to care for stable ICU patients, allowing the ICU staff to remain with higher acuity patients and maintain appropriate ratios.

During this time period, 6N was also closed for a short time due to low census, requiring most of the unit staff to float to other areas. Dena floated some to the ICU who were cross-trained and some were floated to acute care SPU. To keep the team together, Dena offered that she would send 2-3 RNs and one CNA to the SPU together for each shift. This allowed those staff to feel more at ease by having colleagues accompany them. The SPU knew in advance that they would have coverage from the 6N staff, and the 6N staff also knew their float assignment ahead of time, reducing anxiety about the experience. This is just one example of how Dena problem solves unit and hospital challenges but also tries to maintain staff satisfaction.

Promotes and enhances the image of nursing within the organization, the community, and the profession. Dena is not only a thoughtful, well-spoken, considerate nurse leader herself; she cultivates this in her nursing staff on a routine basis. When many unit charge nurses became concerned about the recent Charge nurse position changes, Dena asked to be part of the task force for role development and requested that a staff member join her. Respectfully, she asked tough questions of the leaders tasked with implementing the role. She relayed the concerns and fears of her staff, wanting to find the best way to support them through this significant change. When the charge nurse staff were still unsettled with the answers that had been provided by leadership, they penned a letter to our director with concerns and questions. Dena said she trusted us to write this letter and to be the respectful leaders that we are, never intervening or telling us not to express ourselves freely. Dena fully encouraged another staff member in requesting a meeting with our CNO to discuss concerns further. She provided her unwavering support to that clinician. She advocated for us and continues to do so each and every day. The following is an excerpt from an email from Dena to the charge nurses about the charge nurse role: "I cannot tell you all how much I appreciate and respect your professional, thoughtful, impassioned approach to this situation. I recognize that there are still unanswered questions and I will keep trying to get answers to those and any others that come up." She shows us that nurses have a voice- on our unit, in our institution, and in the profession as a whole. With her support and guidance, we use that voice to continually advocate for ourselves and for our patients.

Creates an environment that fosters care and compassion. Recently, a long-time night shift nurse was to return from maternity leave. She met with Dena to discuss a return to the unit by working only day shifts to accommodate her need for childcare. Dena knew this nurse had always had difficulty with day shift and getting to work on time from her hour-long commute. Plus, we were short night shift nurses as always. Regardless of her prior struggles and potential for scheduling difficulties, Dena committed to seeing if the nurse could make it work. That nurse has been back for 2 months now and is thriving on day shift. She has not been late once and has quickly adapted to being a charge nurse on day shift, something she had previously never done. Dena is willing to compromise and to give staff a chance to be successful no matter what the circumstance is. She cares for her staff and tries to always do what is right by them, the patients, and the medical center. That is only one small story in her attempt to make working in an inpatient ICU more tolerable.

She frequently emails the unit about shift swaps for staff that have scheduling conflicts. She is able to walk the fine line of keeping staff happy and also ensuring a safe staffing ratio. As the challenges of inpatient management during a pandemic endures, Dena continues to promote work-life balance for herself and for our unit staff. From an email from Dena: "I'm sharing this in its entirety for your awareness. Staffing is going to get even more challenging across the hospital moving into the weekend and the new schedule that starts Monday. While I sincerely appreciate anyone picking up those extra shifts, please take care of yourselves as well." Another small example that wasn't so small to me was when my son broke his arm. Dena checked in on us and worked with me to adjust my schedule to accommodate his surgery. Her actions both small and large show that she truly cares about each and every one of us not only as employees, but as individuals.

These actions carry over into her management of our patients and their families as well. One of the hardest things for our patients and families during this pandemic has been limited visitation made even more complex when changes occur. During these transitions, Dena has often met one on one with families to let them know of the changes and work through any issues that arise. This has helped to ease their anxieties early on easing the burden on patients, their families, and staff.

Motivates team members with a shared vision and enthusiasm to achieve better outcomes for themselves and for their patients. As the leader of our unit, Dena has collaborated with us all to establish achievable goals for the upcoming year. CAUTI is an area of concern for us, so Dena asked me, and other unit leaders to work with her and IPC leaders to review our CAUTI cases. As a team, we started with the basics- performing CAUTI audits and diving into the complexities of urinary catheters in the neuro population. Dena sought out the perspectives of all invested parties and a plan was developed for reevaluating the hospital-wide ICA protocol. On a unit level, she is helping us investigate our bowel management program to find out why diarrhea is contributing so frequently to our CAUTI occurrences. Though she leads the meetings, she is constantly seeking the input of those who are doing the bedside work and placing the orders.

Another example of Dena's support in working to achieve better outcomes is her active involvement in our NNICU and NIMU Interprofessional Practice and Quality group. This group is comprised of RNs, APPs, and MDs all of whom are working on projects involving IV access, temperature management, and tube feeding. Dena is truly a partner in the work we do rather than a superior.

Our other goal this year is to work on recognizing and retaining nurses in our unit. Dena developed a recognition survey seeking feedback on what was and wasn't working in regards as well as to gather ideas directly from the staff on how to improve. Afterward, she presented the staff with the data and absolutely let us, the staff, decide how to use it to strengthen recognition within the unit. Ultimately we decided on a fun way to engage staff through recognition boards, superlatives, photographs, locker decoration for new hires, and by adopting other units. We even created a recognition sub-committee as a part of our unit shared governance at her recommendation. She joins our meetings to be supportive in any way that she is able, however, she lets us take control over creativity and execution. So far we have had 10 recognition events that have been planned and executed by various staff, allowing us all to share the vision of how we want to be recognized and treated by our peers.

Role models behavior perceived as extraordinary. The pandemic and staffing shortage that has followed has been so hard on us all. After signing off from one of our Webex charge nurse meetings, Dena told us (paraphrased) "that people are going to leave, they may continue to do so for a while. And, although it is hard, we need to support them as they make the best life decisions that they can for themselves right now. We will continue to get through this together." This is exactly how Dena works. You could be her best staff member or her worst and she would show you the exact same support and courtesy. Recently, a CNA told Dena that the past year had shown her that she no longer wanted to be a nurse. She wanted to quit her job to bake cupcakes and sell them. Dena looked at the bright, young nursing assistant and saw the true joy that she had on her face while talking about baking. She knew that it was only right to support this young woman as she transitioned out of her work in the hospital.

I have never worked with someone who was so supportive of you "on and off of the field". I can recall a particularly challenging time in my life when I was about to undergo a medical procedure that I was incredibly nervous about. At this point in my employment, I had only worked for Dena for a very short time and we were still getting to know each other. Before I even finished explaining why I was requesting a modified schedule, she quickly said for me to take all the time I needed. She then got up, closed her office door, turned away from her computer and the work that she was in the middle of, and listened intently. I was so impressed by her genuine interest in my needs as a person--all before she even really knew me. I felt so confident going into that procedure, knowing that there would be nothing hanging over my head at work and that I had the support of my manager. She did not make me feel small or judge me for my emotional outpouring to her but treated me as one would treat a family member. This interaction, so early in my time of knowing Dena, confirmed the fact that I had chosen the right job, at the right place, with the right people.

Dena looks at the big picture when it comes to being a leader. Recently, our ICU charge was in staffing and we were sent 2 SRO acute care support nurses to help out. In the meantime, our sister unit, 6C, was struggling with staffing and high patient acuity. Dena worked with both unit charge nurses to send one of the support nurses to 6C. She is frequently managing this way with our CNA staff, sharing the support between our unit and our IMU. She is exceptional in the way that she is able to look past our small bubble of a unit and care for the units around us as well.

Creates an environment where attributes of trust, compassion, mutual respect, continued professional development, and ethical behavior are modeled and supported. In case you couldn't tell from the multiple examples I have provided, Dena constantly displays an enormous amount of compassion for those that she works with. I am often astounded at how she possibly handles all of the things that are thrown her way- family troubles, child care concerns, practice issues, and staffing challenges. Staff frequently seek out Dena for her advice on school, career choices, and personal issues. Throughout it all, she proceeds in such a respectful, composed way. She is down to earth, exhibits a strong moral compass, and is very approachable. The respect that colleagues have for her throughout the hospital is evident. I work closely with Dena on the nursing schedule for our area and she always ensures that staff have off for the time that they need. This includes PTO and also school commitments. She also guarantees that our new hires are scheduled so that they are available to attend NRP classes and our unit-based education courses. In addition, she is supportive of the unit clinical leaders being out of staffing to teach these classes, such as Neuro Core Curriculum and Neuro Boot Camp. She also encourages the involvement of these staff in leading committees throughout the hospital. Over the past few years, Clinician 4 nurses in our units have chaired several central PNSO committees with full support from Dena. She coaches emerging leaders in advancing on the Clinical Career Ladder at UVA and has even been a CCL panel member. In addition, Dena works on her own professional development. She has been known to attend local stroke conferences and recently obtained her SCRN certification. She and our ANM celebrate our certification and CCL advancement successes through a unit flier, emails, and our Kudos board. When pandemic morale was at an all-time low, Dena suggested that we plan some fun Nurses Week activities to take place since the hospital had nothing planned. She collaborated with me and our ANM to engage our nurses to have a fun celebration over the course of the week. Dena used her own money to buy an espresso machine for our unit to have as a gift for Nurses Week and we used recognition funds to have games and giveaways for staff. Dena let us have free range to do the planning but suggested a fun activity of superlatives for staff which ended up being one of the highlights of our celebration.

Dena is an incredible leader, and UVA is lucky to have her. She brings a wealth of clinical expertise, a true sense of teamwork, and a passion for patients, families, and nurses. No matter how crazy a day gets or how dire the outlook can sometimes seem, Dena manages to be both optimistic and realistic at the same time. She makes us feel heard while ensuring us that we can get through whatever obstacle comes our way. One of the most important aspects of a good job to me is the people that you work with, and Dena is a major part of the reason we all love working in the NNICU and NIMU. She deserves recognition for all the ways she advocates for us and supports us every day.