When you hear 4NW, you hear staff and patients stating that it is “the best unit to be in as a patient and float nurse”. Our Unit Director Paulette Madley goes above and beyond for our patients’ satisfaction and speedy recovery. She spends half of her shift rounding with patients, checking in, and ensuring that they are receiving the highest quality of care as she establishes a trusting relationship with them. She provides positive feedback and acknowledges the hard work each staff has put in after each patient visit.

I have seen multiple patients request to be transferred back to our unit because they feel at home in our unit. Paulette always advocates for our surgery patients to move patients back to our unit, where staff is specifically trained to care for this complex surgery patient population, where their healing starts in an environment infused with compassion, love, and care. This is how Paulette has shown us to deliver out-of-this-world, leading-edge care with compassion for even our most difficult patients. Paulette role models this behavior. Paulette coaches and mentors us through her action. Her most popular advice to all of us is “you can’t go wrong with always doing what is right”.

Paulette has a broad spectrum of expertise as a unit director and as a clinical nurse. Each morning, she makes her rounds and ensures staff has all of the resources needed to care for our patients. Her advocacy, transparency, and visibility are evident, which makes us feel supported and safe. She has her running shoes ready at all times to help the unit, especially with IV start on our most difficult patients. She is amazing and goes out of her way to make sure all her staff is taken care of.

During the first round of COVID in 2020 and at the height of it, we were the first one to transition as the COVID unit. Knowing Paulette, she doesn’t hesitate to take on new services. She embraces change as our unit transitioned many new services such as Stroke, NPH, thoracic, Microsurgery, and many more including COVID in 2020. When COVID was new to all of us, Paulette worked day and night to ensure our questions and concerns were addressed in this stressful time of our lives. I remember Paulette was on the phone at 2 am in the morning consoling one of the nurses who was on the brink of breaking down due to her fear of many things unknown about COVID at that time. With something never seen before, Paulette helped us understand the constant changing of protocols and patient treatments. She ensured that the unit was well-staffed and requested additional nurses when needed.

All nurses want to float to 4NW and work under Paulette as their unit director. She has made this unit a strong and welcoming team, where everybody helps each other. We are all one, a family with Love. Paulette leads with her love for nursing, strong clinical skills and most of all through her kindness. It shows in her interaction and the way she makes people feel safe and seen. She is the strongest, most passionate, and hard-working woman I have ever worked with.

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Paulette is one of the best leaders I've ever known. She's compassionate and caring and is always advocating for her staff and patients. To pick out one or two incidents where she goes above and beyond is almost impossible because every move she makes is with great intention. I feel so blessed to be a part of a team that she leads.

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Paulette has been the driving force that propels 4NW’s teamwork and focuses. Hands down the best leader ever.

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This unit manager has gone above and beyond seemingly every single day in the 5 years that I have known her. She greets everyone with her signature warm smile, she is accommodating, a willing listener, patient, fair, and does not hesitate to roll up her sleeves and get dirty with her nurses on the floor. A phenomenal personification of exemplary leadership without whom our unit and hospital would not be the same.

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I’ve been a nurse for almost a decade and have had quite a few managers, but none of them have been as amazing and supportive as 4NW’s UD; she is a true leader. She trusts the staff to do what we do best, provide the best care to our patients and keep them safe, and in turn, inspires us to be the best nurse we can be. She leads by doing; she helps the staff when she is available; she isn’t afraid to go back into the trenches with us: she’ll put IVs in, she’ll help us medicate, she’ll assist with a bath or take a patient to the bathroom. She is a great communicator; when she speaks, we listen; she relays sensitive information without ever making the recipient (whether her staff or the patients) feel belittled. Paulette is truly an amazing nurse leader.

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This Nurse Leader is the reason why we do what we do. She has a way of making each and every person she comes across feel seen and heard. Every morning, she says hello to everyone on the unit and is so friendly to the float pool, care partners, EVS staff, and fellow RNs. She leads with love and gives her heart and soul to 4NW.

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Paulette Madley goes above and beyond to not only address the needs of the unit but the individual needs of her staff. She treats each staff member just like a detailed and individualized care plan. She is available 24/7 for staff and always treats staff with compassion, care, and the utmost importance. I can write a whole new paragraph on how exceptional she is when it comes to handling challenging patient situations. She puts her staff and patients before herself, leaving the unit way past her usual time to address nurses'/care partners' concerns. Paulette has been my boss since I was a new grad 7 years ago. The unit has faced challenging times and at times critical staffing shortages but Paulette makes it worth it. She gets on the floor and assists us with any needs. She is the reason that I haven’t ventured out to any other unit. I know there will never be a boss like Paulette Madley. Thank you!

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This nurse leader thanks every single float pool staff for helping us out when they work on our floor. She checks in with the charge nurse every single shift to make sure that our staffing sets us up for success for the following shift. She helps cover RN and sitter breaks whenever we have any gaps in coverage. She helps RNs on our unit and all of the hospital with difficult IV starts, or difficult patients. She has been known to fill in as charge RN on the night shift when the unit is very short. This nurse leader makes every one of her staff feel safe and supported. As nursing becomes more challenging, it is always a tempting thought to find a new position in a unit with lower acuity. But every time I consider it I come to the same conclusion. I would rather go through challenges under the direction of this unit leader because I know she will never stop fighting for us and our patients.

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Paulette gives everyone an equal chance to prove their capability of kindness to others. She takes time to listen to her staff and patients’ concerns. She brings a positive atmosphere for her staff to rise up to challenges. She continues to seek more challenges for everyone to grow professionally. She is sympathetic and empathetic to everyone’s uniqueness. Paulette starts every morning in her unit by greeting staff and patients with a friendly hello and smile. She conducts herself in a manner of compassion and integrity through every change the last 2 plus years have given. As a member of 4NW, I felt supported, cared for, and seen by her on numerous occasions. Paulette is an outstanding leader with years of dedication.