Kate Zeccola, MSN, RN, CCRN, NPD-BC

I am writing this for a nurse educator who goes above and beyond in their role every day and shares their love of nursing and education. I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Kate Zeccola since I was hired in December of 2021.

Kate ran several classes during my Critical Care orientation, including the critical care medication classes. It was evident from the first time meeting her that she exhibited extraordinary passion for all things critical care and nursing. The tone of her voice during the class and going into all of the small details with some of the critical medications and the “why” behind protocols and rationales, paired with her excitement to teach, made this class engaging and informative. Seeing her passion talking about critical care sparked my own passion for critical care and reinforced that I was in the right place for where I wanted to start my career.

Kate also took a tremendous amount of time explaining the importance of teach-back and ensuring that everyone felt competent and left the class learning several new things. Unknowingly at the time, I would continue working with her after being assigned to orient on 6S Transitional Care Unit for my step-down rotation.

Not only was Kate so welcoming, but she made a lot of effort to continuously check in with me and see how things were going during my onboarding. She worked diligently to set me up with the best preceptors to optimize my orientation, which was especially reassuring as a brand-new nurse. Throughout this process, Kate provided crucial feedback. She provided me with a safe space to share my thought process and struggles as a new nurse. Not only did she validate those feelings, but she also offered reassuring explanations and words of encouragement that helped me more than she could know.

After completing my step-down rotation, I rotated through WICU. Kate, being the educator for all of 6 South, including WICU, continued to check in with me to see how things were going. I would eventually be hired to a full-time position in WICU in April of 2022.

Since then, I have watched Kate continuously go above and beyond in her role (to her own detriment at times) and advocate for both patients and staff time and time again. She has worked diligently to ensure staff remain competent and proficient with particular skills or new devices. Not only does Kate want everyone to learn certain skills or procedures, but she wants her staff to feel comfortable and confident more than anything.

Her passion for education is obvious to anyone who has interacted with her, and in addition to educating, she ensures that whoever she is teaching has a thorough understanding of whatever the topic may be. As she always says, she wants to make sure that nurses understand the “why” behind why we do certain things.

Since starting in my full-time position, I have watched Kate work incredibly hard to educate staff on new skills and new devices, including: Post-TNK stroke patients (along with stroke alert/stroke code procedures and TNK administration), NxStage CRRT, Massive Transfusion Protocol/Belmont Rapid Infuser, Dobhoff Insertion and protocol, Swan-Ganz catheter insertion and nursing care, among several others. In addition to all of these new devices and procedures, she also regularly maintains staff competence with other nursing care in our area of practice.

Along with implementing all of these new topics, she is constantly following up and obtaining feedback to explore ways that certain processes can be improved for staff and patient safety by following up with appropriate parties.

While I could give many examples of Kate’s eagerness to jump-in and help during critical situations including a potential Swan-Ganz insertion, Massive Transfusion Protocol, etc., one recent example stands out in my mind where she dropped everything she was in the middle of to help me during my first stroke-code.

After being called to a Rapid Response that would then turn into a stroke alert, the patient had met the criteria to receive TNK. While I was anticipating the possibility of administering TNK, I was extremely nervous because I had never given it before. I reached out to Kate on our way to CT scan and mentioned that I may be giving TNK. She followed up by asking where I was and that she would be down ASAP.

Kate would eventually meet me down in CT and guided and assisted me throughout the remainder of the stroke code before the patient was transferred for mechanical thrombectomy. We debriefed after and she answered all of my questions to ensure that I was comfortable with the process. I couldn’t thank her enough just for being there and reassuring me throughout the duration of the RRT.

In my time working with Kate, she has been approachable anytime I have a question (even if it's answering an NxStage question while she is enjoying her day off) and is always amenable to new ideas when receiving feedback. Kate is always thinking about how things can be improved with our policies.

I believe all of these qualities, in addition to her deep passion for teaching, make her deserving of the DAISY Award for Nurse Educators, as she is a shining example of what it means to be a nurse educator. She has inspired me, greatly influenced my practice, and sparked my own passion for critical care nursing.

I hope that you will consider honoring Kate with this award, as I truly believe that there is no one more deserving of the recognition.

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As a new grad nurse entering my first "real" job, Kate was the first one in the interview to speak to me and make me feel at ease saying, "Are you nervous?" Obviously, my answer was yes, but she went out of her way, even on our first impression, to make me feel more comfortable. This is basically a testament to the type of person she is.

Throughout my first year in nursing, Kate has always checked in with me, answered every and any educational (or non-educational) questions I have ever had, always stopped to take time to say, "Good morning," and can often be found out and about on the floor helping in any way she can. Kate wears many hats and takes on many tasks that may pull her in different directions but is never too busy for you.

Many times, Kate is a listening ear for you, and that is enough. Even then, she may go further to follow up after that and make sure it gets resolved. Kate is also not afraid to go out of her way to ensure whatever needs to be resolved is done and done quickly at that.

Beyond always being a knowledgeable and positive presence on the floor for other Caregivers, Kate can also be found in patient rooms, serving as a motivator, a shoulder to lean on, a mediator, and so much more. Multiple times, Kate has come into my or other rooms to speak with our difficult patient population to ensure they get the care they deserve.

I can say she makes me feel confident in my own abilities as a nurse and comfortable enough to ask whatever questions I have. Further than that, Kate has always motivated me specifically, and others, to further our education, certifications, and opportunities within our positions.

She has, again, gone out of her way many times to ensure that I had extra study materials on certain topics for my learning style, added extra education on topics I was less than confident in, and continues to urge me to evolve as a Nurse in whatever way possible.

Kate is an amazing, passionate, and caring human. I feel so lucky to not only be able to learn from her but to work with her. She deserves to be recognized with this DAISY for always going above and beyond; that's her standard.

She embodies the positive impact on Caregivers every shift, improved patient care on the unit, has always fostered a supportive and open learning environment, has been an admirable role model/mentor to me as an individual and Nurse, and is an agent for change not only on our unit, not only at Wilmington, but at the entire hospital organization level - all attributes of a great Nurse and Daisy Nurse Educator.