Julie Larson, Olympic Medical Cancer Center Infusion Supervisor, is the ultimate DAISY Nurse Leader. She has honed over 27 years of experience in oncology and matched it with her gifted supervision, selection and support of our oncology infusion team. She is the perfect combination for the job, carefully choosing her office to be attached to our nurses’ station, so she lives through the day with us, backing us up in tricky clinical decisions, busy scheduling moments, and oncology emergencies - and highlighting moments of joy and cheer that “refill our buckets” of morale together.

LEAD: She is always there first thing in the morning, wanting to jump in with us to take patients on despite her own schedule. She keeps an ear out for possible issues... “what’s going on? How can I help?” just when she is needed. She demonstrates leadership in maintaining a culture of safety, personally ensuring our high-risk, detailed chemo plans are painstakingly checked for accuracy. She promotes teamwork (we all answer all the call lights and she does too), yet values individuality, and so chooses charge nurses that balance schedule order with nurse autonomy, so that we never have to rush our patients, yet we get our lunches and breaks. She demonstrates transformational leadership during moments where improvement can be found. She does this respectfully and individually through private conversation, with gentle and diplomatic collaboration, and doesn’t waste time communicating with care when improvement is needed. “You are a real asset. I do want to mention I’ve noticed something, this is what it looks like. What can I do to help, or what do you think would help as we move forward?” After a conversation with her, I feel inspired and cared about. The result is a tighter, more self-aware team that trusts each other and can be transparent.

ENCOURAGING: “Is everything all right?” Julie will notice if someone is having a bad day or not feeling like themselves, and make it clear she is there if there’s anything she can do. She is quick to laugh and likes to focus on the positive aspects of difficult circumstances, like at the end of losing our EPIC access, “hey guys, you all did a wonderful job!” Few days pass when she can't find something to be happy about.

ASK: She wants to inspire us to do our best. She sends out Friday Updates and has a special “kudos” section at the end, where many individuals on our team, the pharmacy, and even medical oncology are highlighted with details Julie noticed throughout the week and jotted down. When a solution is found, Julie asks if it is the right one, and wants to know if it works for everybody.

DEVELOP: She is interested in our future success, and not staying stagnant from previous education. She has helped to grow nurse leaders; she has inspired us all to earn our Oncology Nurse Certifications, and as she celebrates each new OCN, she is so excited with us, that it’s even more special. She also encouraged 2 nurses to pursue their ARNP education, even though that meant eventual loss of staff with new role changes. She does this through positivity, never pressure.  

ENGAGES with all units within OMC Cancer Center and beyond with professionalism and grace, keeping nurses on the infusion unit aware of relevant answers to our concerns. If we need a different type of glove, she will speak with the unit. If we need more staffing, she will be in touch with leadership. in this way, Julie connects us with the organization efficiently, and even though OMCC is over 15 miles from the main hospital, we never feel isolated. Even with challenging patients, when advocating for their care during scheduling, she is careful to be positive and always seeks their best care.

RESILIENT/REAL: I am inspired by Julie’s ability to see opportunity for greatness everywhere. I believe this has fueled her flexibility through extraordinary daily stressors (over time, with recent COVID events, and with surrounding staff turnover). It motivates her to fit that patient who needs hydration into a tight schedule, celebrate a patient’s achievement of completing chemo with a song (thousands of songs over the years), flexibly to leave her role in the office for the day, and get out on the floor to take a position when the nursing staff is short (and roll up her sleeves with a smile), and to visualize an oncology infusion nursing team and unit that leaves a smile on everyone’s faces, no matter who they are. And do that year after year, for over 27 years at Olympic Medical Center, on the Infusion unit, from Port Angeles to Sequim, old building to new, team to team. She has created something great at OMCC Infusion - a professional team and nurse family that patients can trust - and I firmly believe she deserves this special award.  

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To be a leader in today’s challenging times of healthcare takes an individual who can coach the team, guide the best possible delivery of care and inspire those around them. This person should foster a culture of teamwork and lead by example. Julie is truly an inspiration to me! She manages to balance the duties of a supervisor while jumping in at any time to assist and care for our patients. All the while, ensuring that we as staff nurses have every tool and resource available to care for our patients.

Julie is a compassionate individual and makes sure to congratulate patients for graduating from their treatment. Julie also is very compassionate with those she works with, making sure that staff is recognized for a job well done. Over the past year, some of the nurses in the Infusion part of the clinic have achieved the certification process of Oncology Certified Nurses (OCN). Julie was instrumental in this achievement for the nursing staff. Discussing the value of obtaining certification, and leading by example as an OCN herself, made this a goal that was so enticing to achieve. She was a proud Mama with each certification obtained!

Julie is also a fantastic vein finder and is always willing to help when there is a challenging IV start. What a blessing to have her skills!!! Julie is an amazing wealth of knowledge in oncology. Her ability to recall details about a patient’s treatment plan is incredible. This is vital for patient care as it has helped countless times when trying to navigate complicated treatment plans.

Perhaps the biggest attribute that makes Julie a DAISY Nurse Leader is her consistent advocation for not only the patients who are cared for but for those she works with. To say that Julie is passionate about staff satisfaction is an understatement. A good leader takes into account the skills of his or her staff and fosters growth and potential. An exceptional leader is confident, diligent, attentive, humble, reliable, and above all inspirational. This is Julie.