7B had lost our unit director and half of our staff by the beginning of 2022.  The remaining staff we had were very uneasy about the future of the unit.  When Lynn became our interim unit director, we saw a light at the end of the tunnel.  We were determined to get her to take the position and stay with us.  As a newer nurse, I was very anxious about being asked to step up, be in charge, and precept new nurses.  Lynn did everything she could to prepare me and reassure me that I had what it took to be a leader on the unit.  She empowered me to tackle each day and learn everything I could.  She gave me the confidence I needed to get through each shift, being in charge, and having my own three patients more of the time.  Lynn is the type of leader every unit needs – fearless, determined, relentless, encouraging, forgiving, and compassionate to her patients AND her staff.  I admire her for accepting the challenge of taking our unit under her wing, and not only fixing it, but making it a million times better than it was before.  She has created a new environment that we are all excited to continue working in.  Lynn runs around 7B offering her helping hands and her knowledge shift after shift.  One big example is that she has helped ease the fear and the transition into taking care of sicker cardiac kids than we are used to seeing with her background in cardiology and her excitement to share her knowledge with us.  Lynn has made me, and many other nurses on the unit, a hundred times more confident in our own abilities than we could have ever imagined being so early into our careers.  

In addition, one thing I really appreciate about Lynn is her feedback in real-time.  She is often eager to jump in to educate or walk-through a scenario with our nurses.  Lynn also prioritizes patient care and family satisfaction.  We have implemented a number of changes to increase our performance in both of these areas.  Lynn is always reevaluating the job we are doing as a unit, and we are constantly tweaking the way we do things to continually improve.  

Overall, our patients and nurses are so happy and always feel supported because of the impact Lynn has made on all of us.  She has provided invaluable lessons in her short time taking charge of 7B.  We love Lynn and think she is so well deserving of The DAISY Nurse Leader Award.

Note: This is Lynn's 2nd DAISY Award!