Sarah Lawrence
December 2023
Sarah
Lawrence
,
MSN, RN
Birthplace
Dupont Hospital
Fort Wayne
,
IN
United States
Sarah is not concerned with garnering “the credit” for an idea, but content when a collaboration has been successful in increasing team engagement and improving patient safety.
I am nominating our Birthplace Director, Sarah Lawrence for The DAISY Nurse Leader Award. Sarah is an exemplary leader to all within the Birthplace and at Dupont Hospital. Sarah shows compassion and care to her team daily. Her office door is always open and her cell phone is always on for staff to come and discuss any concerns. She handles each concern individually and assists the staff members in coming up with their own solutions, when appropriate. There has been tremendous professional growth in our team because of her. She continues to maintain her professionalism and positivity during times of high stress. She is the one to keep us all grounded. Sarah works tirelessly for the Birthplace team every day. She works closely with the State of Indiana to maintain our credentials as a Level 3 Perinatal Center and has a great professional relationship with them. As a part of the Level 3 distinction, Sarah works closely with our outlying facilities to support them through challenges they may face. She facilitates the OB Standardization committee for our network which supports all OB facilities within our network. She ensures appropriate policies are made and allows contributions from all facilities in what processes are working well or could be improved for the network. Sarah is well-respected throughout the facility by other leaders and teams. She willingly shares items that could be beneficial to other units. Sarah is not concerned with garnering “the credit” for an idea, but content when a collaboration has been successful in increasing team engagement and improving patient safety. Sarah has worked diligently to recruit nurses to our Maternal Transport Team. She helped to alleviate any fears and anxiety related to transport by advocating the necessity of 2 staff members on each Maternal Transport. This has been a great blessing to the team as Dupont has become the sole supporter of the Maternal Transport Team over the last year. By advocating for her team and allowing individuals the time and space to discuss concerns, Sarah has fostered an environment of trust, mutual respect, and professional growth in the Birthplace at Dupont. The Birthplace has the most Clinical Advancement Program (CAP) nurses in the facility, quite possibly the network. This is just an example of how she has fostered professional growth and a shared vision with this team. They trust their ideas for improvement in their units will be appreciated and utilized to achieve better outcomes for their patients. Sarah models all the best attributes of a leader (fostering trust, mentoring, responsiveness, etc) to those of us on the Birthplace Leadership team. I have seen growth in all of us individually, which has strengthened our Leadership team as a whole. Sarah doesn’t shy away from crucial conversations when they are necessary to correct a behavior, even with us. I have appreciated her guidance over the last 2 years and feel as if I have grown as a leader as a direct result of her mentorship. I have now worked with Sarah for the last 6 years. I have had the privilege to work together on the floor as staff nurses, where she was regularly recognized by her patients for exceptional care, and now as leaders of the same unit. I know there are many of us on this unit who have grown to be better caregivers, leaders, and people who have been directly impacted by Sarah. She truly is deserving of the DAISY Award and I hope this deciding committee agrees.