Amanda Venable has a passion for the care of critically ill patients. Her philosophy of nursing should be modeled by us all. She is a leader in critical care for the entire hospital, not just the units she serves. Other leaders seek out Amanda for advice and discernment of challenging situations. I have never seen Amanda refuse to help anyone; there is no task too menial for her. She is truly a servant leader.
Her passion for evidence-based practice is unparalleled. Over 10 years ago, when the publication of evidence of rapid response teams began, Amanda Venable decided our organization could benefit from the deployment of a team such as this and singlehandedly began our UMC Rapid Response Team to aid in the rescue of patients throughout our hospital. At the beginning of this implementation, she took on the role herself countless times to make sure we had coverage 24 hours per day, 365 days a year until our team was fully established.
She is a published researcher and has presented nationally. As far as I can remember, she works every Christmas day, so our nurses know they are supported and appreciated on holidays. She provides career advancement counseling to all staff to ensure we all achieve our dreams; oftentimes, this means losing a valuable staff member to advancing roles in nursing. Many leaders in this organization currently were previous direct reports of Amanda. The strong relationship between physicians and nursing staff evident in her units is due to Amanda's leadership with the physician team that fosters mutual respect. Others in the organization know that her involvement in committees, collaborations, projects, and implementations is the key to success. She has written nominations for many of her nurses for various awards over the years, and they have successfully achieved much due to her efforts. The success of her team is more important to Amanda than her success. Amanda deserves recognition for her superior efforts in nurse leadership.