Erin Toth
May 2023
Erin
Toth
,
MSN, RN
5 North
Jefferson Hospital
Jefferson Hills
,
PA
United States
In the middle of the pandemic Erin has to step in to be our manager with her comes stability and empowerment. She is determined with a positive attitude.
She has been our 5N Unit Manager since January 2022, before then it was not an easy journey for our unit we had about 4 managers in 5 years and in the middle of the pandemic Erin has to step in to be our manager with her comes stability and empowerment. She is determined with a positive attitude. She lifts our spirits up when we are down, and always has or finds out the answers to our WHYs.
Erin is a Clinical Instructor too with senior students in our unit with whom she onboarded from her own class 2 RNs, 2 LPNs, 5 PCTs, and 1 nurse extern to roll over as a nurse soon, talking about hard working that’s how she is. 5N has Clinical students from Monday through Friday and we enjoy sharing our knowledge and mentoring the future of our craft. 5N Staffing gap analysis increased tremendously from a year ago to date from RN 19.6 {23 FTE} 2 casual to 22.4 {26 FTE} 12 casual, PCT 5.3 FTE with 3 casual to 11.5 FTE with 12 casual employees. She made it possible the staff’s outcry for about 2 years now of increasing our staffing minimum from 4 to 5 nurses when census is above 25, she went to the proper channel, wrote requests to the workforce management council with supporting documents, and was approved effective March 20, 2023, one of her many achievements to 5N that worth mentioning, she has our back and supports us all the ways that a manager should.
Erin appreciates and encourages teamwork. 5 North is the pilot unit for TEAM NURSING or blended nursing and one of the first units that started to have assignments around the bend it takes a lot of discussion and encouragement from our manager to get staff on board and so far so good with continued support from the management. Erin always checks in with us during our shifts and comes in on off shifts to see if she could help us in any way. If RRT is called in 5North Erin is the first one to show up. She has the people skills to deal with the difficult patient and family members. Sometimes when we are short-handed or someone has to go home sick in the middle of the shift and could not find a replacement she will jump in and take an assignment.
We have monthly birthday celebrations with cupcakes on all shifts. Themed monthly food gathering is fun too. Employee of the Month and employee of the Year is one successful project last year. Getting shout outs during huddles, special thank you on our group me, and our new SPOTLIGHT “getting to know board” that features 1 new and 1 old employee to learn more about them and what they enjoy outside of work is another of Erin’s ideas to build our team's camaraderie.
It seems like these are little things but it means a lot to us bedside nurses. We work together, we laugh together, and we cry together that is our little 5 North family. During the huddles and staff meetings, Erin always asks for our input on how she can make our job easier with this we have a stop light board where we can write things that is how we got our vein finder. Our manager is supportive of our endeavor to advance our training and education. Encourages PCT to advance through the levels, PCT to LPN and provides guidance to reach their goals. She then follows up to ensure that her employees are successful. She trained junior nurses to be charge nurses to give them experience and confidence to strengthen our team. For 2 years I was the only one on the clinical ladder to date we have 6 nurses working toward their clinical ladder thanks to Erin’s encouragement.
An important way of building morale is to have the ability to grant requests and still cover the schedule it takes extra work but Erin does a very good job in making this happen. She recognizes seniority one example is by letting the most senior people pick vacation first. She purchased the first t-shirts for our units which was a nice surprise. Happy workers and better service is all I can say. To sum it up when you define the word MANAGER, ERIN meets the ideal criteria!
***
Erin is one of the most motivated leaders that I have ever met. Her positive attitude and caring nature inspire everyone she meets to be their best. Erin displays an infectious work ethic by always going the extra mile for the patients on her unit as well as her staff. Her character is genuine. She is honest, trustworthy, and reliable- what you see is what you get. Personally, I have never worked with someone who so consistently gives her all 24 hours a day 7 days a week. She is an exemplary leader in every way.
Erin is a Clinical Instructor too with senior students in our unit with whom she onboarded from her own class 2 RNs, 2 LPNs, 5 PCTs, and 1 nurse extern to roll over as a nurse soon, talking about hard working that’s how she is. 5N has Clinical students from Monday through Friday and we enjoy sharing our knowledge and mentoring the future of our craft. 5N Staffing gap analysis increased tremendously from a year ago to date from RN 19.6 {23 FTE} 2 casual to 22.4 {26 FTE} 12 casual, PCT 5.3 FTE with 3 casual to 11.5 FTE with 12 casual employees. She made it possible the staff’s outcry for about 2 years now of increasing our staffing minimum from 4 to 5 nurses when census is above 25, she went to the proper channel, wrote requests to the workforce management council with supporting documents, and was approved effective March 20, 2023, one of her many achievements to 5N that worth mentioning, she has our back and supports us all the ways that a manager should.
Erin appreciates and encourages teamwork. 5 North is the pilot unit for TEAM NURSING or blended nursing and one of the first units that started to have assignments around the bend it takes a lot of discussion and encouragement from our manager to get staff on board and so far so good with continued support from the management. Erin always checks in with us during our shifts and comes in on off shifts to see if she could help us in any way. If RRT is called in 5North Erin is the first one to show up. She has the people skills to deal with the difficult patient and family members. Sometimes when we are short-handed or someone has to go home sick in the middle of the shift and could not find a replacement she will jump in and take an assignment.
We have monthly birthday celebrations with cupcakes on all shifts. Themed monthly food gathering is fun too. Employee of the Month and employee of the Year is one successful project last year. Getting shout outs during huddles, special thank you on our group me, and our new SPOTLIGHT “getting to know board” that features 1 new and 1 old employee to learn more about them and what they enjoy outside of work is another of Erin’s ideas to build our team's camaraderie.
It seems like these are little things but it means a lot to us bedside nurses. We work together, we laugh together, and we cry together that is our little 5 North family. During the huddles and staff meetings, Erin always asks for our input on how she can make our job easier with this we have a stop light board where we can write things that is how we got our vein finder. Our manager is supportive of our endeavor to advance our training and education. Encourages PCT to advance through the levels, PCT to LPN and provides guidance to reach their goals. She then follows up to ensure that her employees are successful. She trained junior nurses to be charge nurses to give them experience and confidence to strengthen our team. For 2 years I was the only one on the clinical ladder to date we have 6 nurses working toward their clinical ladder thanks to Erin’s encouragement.
An important way of building morale is to have the ability to grant requests and still cover the schedule it takes extra work but Erin does a very good job in making this happen. She recognizes seniority one example is by letting the most senior people pick vacation first. She purchased the first t-shirts for our units which was a nice surprise. Happy workers and better service is all I can say. To sum it up when you define the word MANAGER, ERIN meets the ideal criteria!
***
Erin is one of the most motivated leaders that I have ever met. Her positive attitude and caring nature inspire everyone she meets to be their best. Erin displays an infectious work ethic by always going the extra mile for the patients on her unit as well as her staff. Her character is genuine. She is honest, trustworthy, and reliable- what you see is what you get. Personally, I have never worked with someone who so consistently gives her all 24 hours a day 7 days a week. She is an exemplary leader in every way.