Approximately one week ago, I had the rare opportunity to work with and observe one of our nursing supervisors at the Cleveland Clinic, Laura Sitnek- and I was amazed by her leadership and problem-solving skills.
Laura is one of the most authentic and caring leaders here at the South Hospital. There was a patient who came into our ED bleeding profusely and had to be given a massive blood transfusion emergently. Laura jumped into action immediately, helping to care for the patient while also consoling the family member- who was by this time beside herself with fear and worry. The decision was made to keep the patient in our ED while the nursing supervisor transferred staff to the ICU in order to accommodate this patient, who was becoming more critical by the minute.
Laura remained calm, showing compassion to the family, and also interacting with them -encouraging, consoling, and even hugging them. In the end, the decision was made to transfer the patient to a higher level of care at our North Hospital.
As a caring leader, Laura always leads with kindness, compassion, and confidence, and has a tremendous amount of knowledge on how our organization works. She also empowers team members like me to display good leadership themselves- and to pass on those leadership qualities to other staff.
Keep on caring, my friend!