I would like to nominate this manager because she represents everything that is a DAISY Nurse Leader. She is always available, day or night for whatever you need. She holds her staff accountable, is always encouraging growth, and she drives change in our organization. The nominee encourages and helps staff growth with education, being very flexible with school schedules. The nominee has helped encourage me to follow my passion with a new path in the organization. The nominee has also been an amazing mentor while transitioning into a new position. I can stop by her office; the door is always open and just pop in with a question and she will point me in the right direction! I was consulted on a patient recently who said she must meet the awesome manager of this unit because the staff have nothing but positive things to say about her. She said she had spoken with several staff members and complimented them on the positive attitudes, and she could tell they have great teamwork together. She asked them why they work so well together, and they all said because our manager has high expectations of us and holds us accountable. The nominee drives change in the organization because she is always willing to try something new to see if it improves patient care and staff satisfaction. She listens to feedback and always willing to make improvements on the unit and in the workflow. She helped bring virtual nursing to Shore to help improve our admission data base compliance. These nurses also help with discharge education with patients and review the After Visit Summary with them. The unit was also asked to increase patient-to-staff ratios so the charge nurses could be free to help with other initiatives on the unit. The staff were not satisfied, so she adjusted it to help everyone. This nominee truly represents everything we want at Shore as a DAISY Nurse Leader.
 
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When I think of an extraordinary nurse leader, this nominee is the first to come to my mind. She is the perfect example of what it takes to be a great leader. She not only holds herself, but her whole team to a high standard when it comes to providing quality and safe care for our community. She expects top performance in quality, safety and strives to be above the benchmark. With her compassion, mutual respect, and trust, she has created a unit that everyone enjoys working on. You often hear from staff floated to our unit, “I just love working here, your teamwork and leadership is awesome”. This nominee takes pride in the recruitment and retention of her staff. Making our unit one of the ones with the most core staff in the hospital. Those two things alone should speak volumes about the type of leader this nominee is.

This nominee faithfully attends morning pre-shift huddles to make sure her team is up to date on the newest changes, education, and to be able to connect and communicate with her team. She is always there for anybody. If problems or concerns arise, whether it’s patient or personal, she is willing to help or help come up with a solution to the problem. For example, when a nurse is going through a difficult time or has an emergency, she goes out of her way to make any accommodations possible with staffing or the schedule so that that nurse can tend to his/her family or personal matter. If not in a meeting, you can expect this nominee out on the unit working elbow to elbow with her staff. Any time a nurse on the floor needs assistance with a difficult situation or even just repositioning a patient, she is there without complaint and with a willingness to help. Or you can find her out on the unit doing her daily leader rounds to interact with our patients and their families to ensure that the standards of quality patient care are being met. If this nominee is in her office, it’s for a good reason, like a meeting advocating for nursing or creating a board to recognize her staff. If the door is closed, she is easily accessible, and anyone can knock on her door or send her a quick Tiger for any guidance or questions.

This nominee does many things throughout the organization. Some examples include, this nominee is the manager representative for global council, she has been a mentor for a new nurse manager, and helped implement the virtual nurse program on our unit. With the virtual nurse program, it has added to both staff and patient satisfaction and helped improve our unit’s quality metrics. This nominee recently attended the UMSON Nurse Leadership Institute. By attending, she shows her passion for striving for excellence as a nurse leader and continuing professional development. This is why this nominee deserves recognition for being an exceptional nurse and someone that I, and many others, look up to as a true, compassionate nurse leader with a love for what she does. She inspires me and my colleagues to strive to be exceptional nurses each day.