Erin Sweeney, BSN, RN
A nurse colleague originally nominated Erin Sweeney for the Employee of the Month award on her pediatric, monitored-bed unit at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. The unit Manager recognized the characteristics of a “DAISY nurse” in the scenario below and she forwarded the nomination for this award which was presented on August 11, 2011.

By the second day of caring for a particularly challenging patient, the nominating nurse was frustrated by her interactions with a difficult parent and ready to request an alternate assignment for her next shift. Erin was the second nurse assigned to the pod and had previously worked with the patient. The child’s mom was particularly fond of Erin and she is one of the few nurses she had warmed up to.

The nurse expressed her frustration to Erin and she was very helpful as a sounding board and spent time with the nurse and mother together. As her colleague relates, “Just by her passive presence it seemed to reassure mom that I knew what I was doing and that Erin ‘approved’ of me. She essentially ‘transferred’ her credibility to me. So much so that mom decided to stay home with her family the next day knowing that Erin and I would be back to work in the same pod the next day. She returned refreshed the following day with her entire family (it was mom's birthday) and we got the patient up in a wheelchair and out of the room away from equipment/medical attachments and helped her with taking family portraits that I know will be special to her for a long time to come. This patient is labor intensive and it can't always be Erin working with him. She is only too happy to let nurses vent when they need to and to give helpful suggestions.

In this scenario, Erin demonstrates compassionate care not only for her patients, but also for her colleagues. Of note, Erin received her DAISY Award on her “due date” and has since given birth to a baby girl.

Picture: Left to Right: Erin Sweeney, RN, with Jo-Ann Burke, CNO