Emily Cooper has been an asset to this hospital for several years. Starting out as a student nurse tech many years ago, working part-time as a bedside ICU RN and even working in the ER, she has grown into an inspirational RN for all of us to aspire to be like. In the past year, Emily has transitioned from bedside nursing during the pandemic in the critical care units to becoming our Critical Care Nurse Manager. She is a leader whom I can trust professionally because of her critical thinking skills as well as her love and compassion for our veterans and staff. 

Recently, she has had to overcome the issues of the lack of education in our critical care units by developing new and fun ways to keep our bedside nurses engaged in the care of the Veterans. Emily found that we were struggling with hypoglycemic events as a whole. She created a tool that allowed us to follow the hypoglycemic protocol closer and allowed us to document and ensure that the protocol was followed correctly. Without this new noted featured in glycemic events would remain that the forefront of our struggle with Veterans. Emily has also had to deal with the transition to 72/80 plan by hiring several nurses to fill the holes within our staffing. She has tirelessly fought to maintain the reputation and high integrity of critical care. With only new staff members scheduled, Emily has volunteered to stay over her shift a few hours so that the ICU was covered with a strong critical care nurse. She has worked the floor numerous times to be that resource and helping hand. It is always for the safety of the veterans more than about herself. She wants to make sure that the veterans on the unit are given the proper care and attention. Only Extraordinary Nurses do the things she has done for her veterans such as supplying items for our bereavement cart for families of our hospice or comfort patients. Emily embodies the love of learning by never being afraid of asking a question. She ensures that her new coworkers know and understand the reasons certain interventions are done during the care of the veteran during his stay and uses evidence-based practice to back them up. Education has been her passion since stepping into the position of nurse manager. She has developed a plan for our night shift nurses to get their critical skills classes/refreshers regularly so they may remain confident in their skills at the bedside. Emily wants to make sure the nurses know HOW to critically think on their own for the future. Not only is she someone we can all turn to for advice or "an extra set of eyes," she is someone that has the foresight in the care of her Veterans due to her extensive experience. 

Just recently, Emily was in the middle of a meeting with a coworker and heard the CODE BLUE announcement overhead. She stopped what she was doing, jumped up, and ran onto the unit to assist. Emily, being a former ER, ICU, and PCU RN, saw that there were plenty of hands in the room, and she stepped back. Emily assisted being a runner and priming the LEVEL 1 rapid transfuser to be ready for blood. She delegated tasks and even made sure that the rest of the unit was running smoothly during the chaos of the CODE BLUE. When all resuscitation efforts were exhausted, they called the time of death. Emily, being the kind, compassionate human that she is, started bawling in tears. After a quick debrief, Emily went back into the patient's room and started to clean him up. She could have easily watched her staff remove all of his lines and bathe him, but she jumped right in and assisted. Emily focuses on veteran-centered care every minute of each shift. It says something when your nurse manager will do anything to assist her staff when they are busy or in a bind. 

For the past 6 months, Emily Cooper has been the driving force behind the changes on and surrounding our Critical Care. Emily's leadership is behind our complete departmental turnaround. She brought the staff together by communicating her vision for critical care's future and the role we would play in it. By focusing her energy on the education that our unit has been lacking for many years, we have turned the critical care unit into someplace that is desirable again. Emily has taught us, fought for us, stood side by side with us, and cried with us. She is constantly looking at ways to improve not only our unit but provide support for us as nurses and as people and to always have a healthy work-life balance. Emily has also worked very hard to improve the work satisfaction of her staff members. She promotes the idea that everyone can work to their full potential and get the salary they fully deserve. Many of our nurses on 2 & 6 have been able to receive their Nurse III because of her drive to assist them in that cause. Emily wants everyone she works with to be happy and love their job. The only way that they can truly love their job is to feel appreciated. It is the least she can do by ensuring everyone has the salary they deserve.

There aren't many leaders in this world like Emily. She would give you the shirt off her back. Emily is more than our boss. She is our confidant, our voice, our leader and most importantly, our friend. We are all so thankful for having Emily over our Critical Care units. As our nurse manager, she routinely makes rounds and always asks others if they need a break or need anything from her. She is willing to do anything for anyone. Her selflessness and compassion have made her the most deserving nurse for the DAISY Award. There is no one in this world like her. Critical care is fortunate to have an organically made nurse manager as our leader.