I was getting report from this nurse after she had a busy night. One of the patients she was caring for was quite ill and had spiked a fever overnight. This nurse acted promptly in notifying the provider and pharmacy team multiple times in trying different things to give the patient some relief and address underlying causes. What really struck me though was the level of care and compassion that the nurse showed. She relayed with a true care in her voice that she had changed the patient's bedding 4-5 times just so he could be comfortable and not sweaty, bathed him, refilled ice packs, and consistently applied cool rags to the patient's head to help him rest. The patient was later very grateful. This was hours of additional work and physical strain when she could have easily given Tylenol and waited for the fever to break. Knowing her patient load that night, she didn't "have the time" but she made the time. She went on to provide multiple details of follow-up for the day team to be notified of, she advocated for other team members such as PT to be added to help her patients, ensured that the family had been updated, and provided multiple levels of critical care knowledge and detail in her handoff that highlighted her excellence. It made me want to be more like her as a nurse.

This is only one small example of this nurse's consistent excellence that multiple staff in our unit have witnessed and that is why I am nominating her. Her "above and beyond" diligence has caught medical errors that could have been life-threatening, picked out lab value subtleties others had missed that changed the patient outcome for the better, and helped ensure better care for the patient with her detailed and persistent communication to the interdisciplinary team. She has graciously taken on high levels of stress and daunting critical care responsibility on nights of short staffing without complaint. She never deviated from the high level of care she provided despite some very serious and time-consuming cases those nights. Her critical care knowledge has bettered us as a unit. She is faithful to attend meetings, to contribute to unit improvement despite working nights. She is an amazing preceptor in how she ensures that the orientee feels safe, and supported, and learns the best practice.

Monica is an exceptional nurse and role model. She embodies the DAISY Award Values of Compassion, Courage, and Integrity. NVRH, the ICU, her coworkers, and our patients have felt the positive influence she has had on us during her time here. Thank you Monica for making a purposeful difference!