This manager has passion and compassion in everything she does. She rounds on her unit every day and gets to know every patient both medically and personally. She recently worked with Admin and set up a birthday party celebration for a patient who was dying and about 30 of the patient's friends and family were able to come to celebrate. She is also a certified RN.
Patti goes above and beyond to ensure exemplary care is delivered not only on Cornell 2 but within the entire organization. Patti is one of the most engaged managers we have. Some ways she role models exemplary practice is:
Encourages Shared Governance participation and has one of the most engaged nursing SG teams at SMJH.
Champions the med/surg needs of SMJH by participating in the system Med/Surg Practice forum, even serving as chair of the council for the system. The way Patti is easily able to represent the needs of the clinical staff is admirable. She is always willing to jump in and help her staff, therefore she has intimate knowledge of their challenges and workflow needs. Patti ensures that she brings key information back to SMJH.
Patti serves as a resource for her leadership peers. I have noticed many times that when another med/surg unit is busy, Patti goes to lend a helping hand. She is quick to find ways to help, sometimes without even asking—such as discharging patients, admitting patients, rounding on patients, etc.
When our hospital is reaching capacity and there are admit holds in the ED, Patti is the first person to volunteer to go down to the ED and begin the admission process, taking the burden off of the ED and IP nurses—particularly helpful when we are in high capacity and the staff are busy.
Patti has opened the surge unit (TUMS unit) when we are in high capacity times. Her enthusiasm for helping the organization as a whole is something to look up to!
Patti is the CAUTI champion here at SMJH. Any time there are discrepancies with documentation and care of foley catheters, she immediately follows up with the staff who have cared for that patient.
She is high energy and outgoing. She is willing to support hospital initiatives in any way she can. She has a questioning attitude and would NEVER leave her wingman. She recently expanded the competencies of her staff to be able to care for a neuro patient population. She is often finding ways to cheer up patients as well as staff. She will get them lunch when she knows they are struggling. She came in a few weekend shifts to make sure her staff felt supported during some challenging times.
This manager is involved at the system level, was Chair of a forum, and encourages her staff to be very involved.
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I wanted to submit this nomination for Patti because as a fellow manager I look up to her in many ways. Patti never ceases to impress me with the knowledge and preparedness she delivers each time we are in a meeting and she is representing her unit. Patti knows the census and staffing of her unit at all times. She takes the time to foster relationships with every patient on her unit. When she comes to census meeting each day, she is the only manager who ALWAYS has intimate knowledge of what is happening on her unit. She is able to confidently say who is going to be discharged, who is going to need additional resources, what staffing holes she has (and how she is already working to fill them) because she takes responsibility to know the needs of her unit and patients at all times.
Patti has a way with her staff that I admire. She has what seems to have very familial relationships with her team members, but is also able to give them direct feedback with ease. This up-front, yet caring, type of approach fosters buy-in from her team members. She is willing to jump in to help her team (and other manager's teams) when they are struggling. She is able to provide positive reinforcement and encouragement even on the busiest days.
She not only supports the patients and their families but of every one of her team members as well. She expects the same of her entire team. She inspects what she expects. Last year she implemented warm washcloths for patients every morning before breakfast. When she rounds she will ask, did you get your washcloth this morning? She has created an extraordinary team in less than 2 years. She has been managing through some vacancy as she transitioned to the manager and she has staff so committed to her and the unit, they are usually almost always able to cover shifts and her team recently had the most employees (from a non-COVID unit) volunteer to go work the COVID unit. They are a very dedicated team involved in many committees.
The DAISY Nurse Leader award is especially significant because of what it represents. I think the intention of The DAISY Award Program to recognize when quality care and compassion are unlike any other. Sure, it's wonderful to recognize metrics and results, but this is one way that we can recognize staff for the true heart and soul they put into their work. She puts her heart and soul into her unit every day. She is ALWAYS available to staff, comes in any time of the day, covers staffing holes (either herself or finding someone), forms relationships with patients—sometimes recurrent patients—which builds trust and comfort. She also participates in system efforts and is a resource for her staff and peers. She does all of this with humor and kindness.
I have never met a manager who is such an outstanding team player. Not just in her department, but any department in the building. If another manager is out of the building she will go help with discharges if the ED is busy, she will help the ED with admissions if the rest of the hospital is full. She is often the first person to offer any assistance.
Patti has created a reputation for Cornell 2 that the staff are kind, compassionate, and flexible. Recently with the COVID-19 crisis, all of my staff were required to cross-train to an inpatient unit. Staff chose the dates and times they wanted to shadow based on the ability to train on Cornell 2. They were treated with respect and compassion and they worked to learn new things in an inpatient setting.
Motivation is her strong suit for sure. She is extremely committed. When she was asked to oversee foley use and care, she rounded every day on every unit. Followed up on every foley, why it was in when the last foley care was documented, you name it. She poured so much into that role and motived others to do the same. When the patient satisfaction scores were down on her unit last year she went into full action, involving her staff to create ways to improve them. She was very successful with her team. She has been a preceptor for other nurses who need shadowing experiences for their BSN.
I think the main reason there are positive outcomes on Patti's unit is that Patti leads by example. You can often go to Cornell 2 and find her at the nurse's station, participating in the planning and delivery of patient care. She has a warm, humorous approach that is inclusive of all members of the team. She shares with her team feedback (such as HCHAPS and patient sat scores) and works with her team to make practical improvements. She celebrates victories with her team members and shares good feedback as well as the bad—something that has a very powerful impact on continued positive results.
She encourages growth among her team. He is a mentor to others, we recently have someone new to a manager role and she often tries to help and offer support both from a peer and a mentor/friend.
Patti serves as a mentor to her staff in the way that she is always willing to teach them things, to encourage them to participate in hospital and system forums, and to go the extra mile for patients and families. She leads them by example by also leading SG/system forums, by rounding on each patient daily, and collaborating with nurses (and other staff—MDs, dietary, EVS, etc.) to ensure that care is delivered based on the individual needs of each patient.
I have noticed that Patti has become a mentor to her fellow Med/Surg managers. While Patti herself only has a few years in a formal management role, she has such an engaged and practical leadership presence, she is able to help her peers navigate challenges. When one of the med/surg units is having a particularly heavy day (such as a big post-op day on W2), Patti will go over and help to encourage and mentor staff—especially coaching on prioritization.
While standing in line at DNV recently, this nurse manager noticed a customer who collapsed. This person performed CPR on this individual who was later admitted to the hospital, she was discharged and noted that this manager was a hero who saved her life while out in the community! She takes great pride in the organization and in being a nurse; she is always out in the community recruiting people to come work here.