Kenneth D Matthews II
November 2023
Kenneth D
Matthews II
,
BSN, RN
4 North Medical and Geriatric Psychiatry
Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA
Los Angeles
,
CA
United States
He is the team’s backbone, making us nurses feel supported. This nurse is a humble person, one thing we really admire about him.
This nurse exemplifies this award by the way he models himself at work. I have watched him advocate for our patients during the most challenging moments in our unit.
One incident that I recall was when a confused patient became aggressive and smeared him with dirt. This nurse initiated and delegated tasks to be done clearly with each staff and they gave the patient a shower. He maintained a positive attitude during the moment, he borrowed scrubs, showered outside the unit, and continued his shift. There are more occurrences that this nurse demonstrated his love and care towards our patients, treated them as his own family, he explained their medical condition in a kind and compassionate way that the patient feels important and does not feel abandoned.
As a leader, he inspires and influences others to achieve their maximum. As everybody knows in the unit, this nurse has a knee problem. He would often do more work than everybody leaving us thinking, “If this nurse can do more than what he’s supposed to do, how come we complain with assignments.” He doesn’t complain, he would always say “I’m OK. It will be a good shift for all of us.”
This nurse received a couple of awards in the unit, he always sees the silver lining in every difficult situation, and he proved that in any unfortunate event, you can be an inspiration, can do much better, and change your perspective in life. This nurse handles conflicts between staff in a supportive manner, he listens, he is fair, he is respectful of different cultures and the diversity of each staff. He always highlights individual strengths of each staff and motivates support for each other, and works as a team.
He is the team’s backbone, making us nurses feel supported. This nurse is a humble person, one thing we really admire about him. He listens to negative feedback with optimism. We learn many skills in nursing, we learn many things in the real world, but one thing that is hard to teach and learn is compassion and kindness, I have witnessed those traits with this nurse.
One incident that I recall was when a confused patient became aggressive and smeared him with dirt. This nurse initiated and delegated tasks to be done clearly with each staff and they gave the patient a shower. He maintained a positive attitude during the moment, he borrowed scrubs, showered outside the unit, and continued his shift. There are more occurrences that this nurse demonstrated his love and care towards our patients, treated them as his own family, he explained their medical condition in a kind and compassionate way that the patient feels important and does not feel abandoned.
As a leader, he inspires and influences others to achieve their maximum. As everybody knows in the unit, this nurse has a knee problem. He would often do more work than everybody leaving us thinking, “If this nurse can do more than what he’s supposed to do, how come we complain with assignments.” He doesn’t complain, he would always say “I’m OK. It will be a good shift for all of us.”
This nurse received a couple of awards in the unit, he always sees the silver lining in every difficult situation, and he proved that in any unfortunate event, you can be an inspiration, can do much better, and change your perspective in life. This nurse handles conflicts between staff in a supportive manner, he listens, he is fair, he is respectful of different cultures and the diversity of each staff. He always highlights individual strengths of each staff and motivates support for each other, and works as a team.
He is the team’s backbone, making us nurses feel supported. This nurse is a humble person, one thing we really admire about him. He listens to negative feedback with optimism. We learn many skills in nursing, we learn many things in the real world, but one thing that is hard to teach and learn is compassion and kindness, I have witnessed those traits with this nurse.