I have had the privilege of working with Steve in the Emergency Department at Children's Colorado for some time now. Steve is not only an exceptional clinician, he is among one of the most beloved members of our team. There are many examples of why Steve is a DAISY Nurse, but one story, in particular, demonstrates this:
It was a usual busy day in the ED, and we were all running around like crazy folks trying to juggle our patient loads and take great care of our families. I had an exceptionally fearful family in which I needed to insert an IV and draw labs from their toddler. Steve was super busy that day as well and had a full patient load with several complicated patients in which he was caring for. (Of course, you would have never known this without looking at the track board because Steve never complains—he is the consummate cheerful, positive, professional!) As Steve came into the room to assist me with the IV, he immediately sensed the family's anxiety and saw that the mom was tearful. As I was setting up my supplies, Steve grabbed a stool, pulled it over, sat down and began talking through the process of inserting the IV into her kiddo. Where a lot of busy nurses (including myself) would have popped their head's in the door and said, "Hey, call me when you are ready," Steve approached the situation differently. Despite the fact that he too was super busy, he slowed down, and took the emotional needs of this family into his care, even though this wasn't even his patient and he did not have to go that above and beyond. As Steve was talking with the family, I watched them begin to calm which calmed me too. The mom stopped crying and the kiddo was laughing and being silly. Then, in response to a question about labs from the dad, I saw Steve do something I have never seen one of our staff do, he got up, and in "lay-person language" wrote the normal lab values on the whiteboard including what each lab meant. How he knew this from memory is beyond my comprehension because I still have to look it up! (And keep in mind, this was a crazy-busy day and Steve had his own patient load to deal with.) Steve didn't make things too technical or scary, he didn't overload them with information, he basically brought the plan of care down to their level, in direct response to this dad's question. You could literally see the anxiety melt away. When we were ready to insert the IV, Steve talked the family and kiddo through the entire process and things went off without a hitch. Steve showed exemplary care, compassion, intuition, and expertise in the care of this family and his actions were above and beyond.
There are many other stories that I could tell about Steve that demonstrate his on-going level of compassion, positivity, and care for families because this is Steve's normal "MO". But in addition to this, Steve also takes equally exceptional care of his co-workers. He makes it a point to be engaged and know everyone's name, from our housekeeping staff to our rotating residents. Steve makes it a point to reach out, care for, help, and get to know his co-workers. When I was a new grad RN and lacking the confidence of a seasoned ED nurse, Steve went out of his way to be my personal cheerleader. No matter what, he kept telling me that I could do it. When I was nervous and learning to insert IVs into kids, Steve would drop everything he was doing and say, "Okay, let's go—You got this!". When I came back to the ED from the PICU and was feeling a little rusty with some of my skills, Steve was the first person stop what he was doing and come into the room to help me with a challenging situation. To this day, if I have an IV that I think is going to be tough, or a family that needs a little extra TLC, Steve is my Go-To Guy. He is so kind, positive, and sincere, he never makes his co-worker's request feel like a burden. And for nurses (like myself) with less-experience than Steve, he never makes us feel inferior. He is the type of nurse that families love, providers trust, and that other nurses want to be!