Frances Noriega possesses many qualities of a great leader and manager. She has a keen understanding of the university system and key players and strives to grow and strengthen partnerships with the ultimate goal of providing a safe environment for patients and the staff. Frances has been a leader in the Emergency Department (ED) for almost 10 years. Nearly a decade ago, Frances stepped into leadership- this was a critical time as the department had a lot of leadership transition and needed a present leader. Her courage and dedication to the department have been steadfast for the past 10 years. She has helped support many initiatives and has helped grow a solid team.

Transparent leadership through complex and challenging times is critical and requires a clear understanding of how to reach goals, while at the same time empowering and supporting staff. Frances continues to empower staff to identify and implement solutions through discussion and leading teams. For example, the ancillary areas within the emergency department were not being optimized and there was variation between how these areas were being staffed and how patients flowed to these areas. Bedside nurses were really frustrated with the day-to-day variation. Frances encouraged the charge nurses to assess the situation and look for solutions. The charge nurses developed clear criteria for the different areas which helped the charge nurses optimize the ancillary areas, optimize the different care areas and decrease the flow variation. This subsequently provided consistency for the bedside nurses and decreased frustration.

During COVID, frontline leadership was/is critical. Frances provided ongoing communication around changes, and provided staff with support both professionally and personally, as many staff had struggles that crossed both areas of their lives. She rounded on the unit and checked in with staff daily, provided meeting minutes, and arranged for multiple virtual meetings so that staff had the information they needed to do their work. She always made herself available to staff across shifts and highlighted their great work throughout this time. She helped arrange multiple staff recognition events- to ensure we paused for celebrations. Frances worked with multiple different departments to address issues that were escalated to her by frontline staff and developed great solutions. Frances helped support our goal to obtain Emergency Department Geriatric certification and was the frontline leader for the bedside nurses. She partnered with providers, residents, and nurses to establish workflows that supported the care of our geriatric patient population and helped with our recent survey. Frances also helped build the nurse practitioner program and operationalize the ED observation service line. She was critical in organizing and opening the various treatment spaces.

Frances deeply believes in the mission and vision of the emergency department and works to create a safe, inclusive environment for patients and staff. She is a transparent, thoughtful, and dedicated leader who strives to grow her team. The Emergency Department is a high-stress environment and Frances has effectively navigated the environment for staff. Frances is very deserving of this award, her almost 30 years of being a nurse at UC Davis exemplify her commitment to her colleagues and staff. She has helped lead the department successfully through many challenges- in which we were awarded the Lantern Designation by the Emergency Nursing Association during the pandemic. This is a prestigious national award.