Linsey embodies compassion in everything she does on a daily basis. As a colleague she stops to ask fellow nurses and techs if there is anything she can do to help. In an emergent situation she stands behind a novice nurse and guides them to success. As a charge nurse she reviews charts for unusual orders and procedures so she can prepare the nurse in advocating for their patients and be informed of the where, what, why, when and how of the situation. Guiding all to ensure safety measures are in place. Linsey is an individual who cares about her peers, about her physician/APP colleagues, about the patients and their families and goes above and beyond in making sure there is team work and fun during their work day together. Linsey is a role model because she is someone who epitomizes what it means to be compassionate and she does this by advocating for her patients, preventing unsafe discharges, spending time getting to know her patients, sitting with her patients holding their hands and caring to know how they feel. Linsey's patients describe her using statements such as "genuine", "trustworthy", "great listener", "someone who cares how I feel", "willing to go the extra mile" and "empathetic". Her peers describe her as "selfless" and always working with the goal of "greater good". An example of this comes to mind, there was a patient who was ordered albumin and the novice nurse was reviewing the policy for albumin administration. Linsey heard this and reviewed patient chart immediately realizing albumin was not warranted. She spoke to the nurse and assisted her in critically thinking about the situation, then calling the physician and presenting the information. Upon review the physician realized the order was placed on the wrong patient and discontinued immediately. This is one such example in the day of Linsey Alcocer when her compassion allowed her to advocate for the patient on the unit and support her peer to ensure safety. Another such example comes to mind when a student nurse was working towards getting her RN licensure and waited months because she was afraid of the NCLEX testing. Linsey spent hours after work gathering resources, educational material and then going through the information with her. When she passed the test, she attributed her success by stating "this is due to Linsey's hard work and trust in my ability to pass". Linsey was out of the country on vacation at the time of the test, but made it a point to call her and check to see how she fared on her test and continued to encourage her by stating "I am confident you will pass". It takes a great deal of compassion to care about those you work with and to take time out of one's busy life to make a difference in someone else's life.

Linsey's makes special connections with her patients and families on a daily basis making it difficult to pinpoint to one event or incident. Just recently a staff member told me as they worked on de-escalating a difficult behavioral patient, "I wish Linsey was here, she always knows how to make the most challenging patients feel better". During leader rounds her patients describe her as "she takes the time to print information, explain it to me as simply possible and then asks me to explain it back to her so she knows she did a good job". Another patient stated "Linsey apologized to me about something that happened overnight and gave me a certificate so I could get myself something after discharge". Often when patients are asked who they would like to recognize they tell me Linsey. She helps them understand why they are in observation status, she helps them gain a better understanding of their disease process, new medications, diet, exercise and even resources within the community.

Linsey's once got an admission from the ED. The patient was a middle aged Hispanic man, with his 18-year-old daughter at the bedside. The patient kept stating "I am fine" but Linsey knew he was not being forthcoming about what he was feeling. Taking cultural sensitivity into consideration Linsey assessed that there was more to the situation than what the patient was stating. She reviewed his cardiac monitor. She spoke to the daughter who was very concerned and looking at the patient she realized he was being stoic and concealing his current condition. She sensed he was in pain and afraid that his culture prevented him from stating the facts. She contacted the doctor immediately stating "I think my patient is having a heart attack", the doctor ordered emergent labs and EKG. As Linsey was doing the EKG she noticed the patient continued to use alternative coping mechanisms to deal with his pain. The doctor was notified of the EKG findings but still not convinced that this was an acute myocardial infarction since the patient had no complaints of chest pain. Linsey realized she needed to advocate for the safety of the patient, so she paged the SWAT nurse, arcing up her concern. The SWAT nurse verified Linsey's findings and Linsey again contacted the doctor to evaluate the patient further. She was relieved to see that the doctor requested cardiology consult and he was on the unit, upon review of the EKG and his most recent cardiac enzymes the cardiologist confirmed a Myocardial Infarction and took the patient to the cath lab for an emergent procedure. The cardiologist thanked her the next day for not giving up, for trusting her critical thinking and instincts, advocating and making a positive difference for the patient. The daughter was thankful as well, because her father received timely care and had positive outcomes to what could have ended as being adverse had Linsey not advocated strongly. This critical thinking and ability to advocate as a professional for your patient are monumental for the nursing profession and Linsey does this with excellence.

When the unit first converted from being inpatient to a telemetry observation unit, Linsey took upon herself to ensure success for herself, her peers and ultimately to achieve high outcomes for the patients. She started gathering resources to excel in telemetry interpretation; she saved difficult rhythms and strips to discuss with the covering cardiologist and then shared the newly learned information with her team. She learned in detail about observation status and what it means for the patient. She met with the leadership team to discuss prospective planning for educating patients and families about this status and the scripting needed to make them comfortable and trusting of the quality of care they will receive when on the unit. She recognized challenges with extraneous documentation and high turnover and took this information and verified it against regulatory needs and presented a case to create observation flowsheets. This has now become part of EPIC documentation. She has stayed abreast to additional changes in EPIC documentation and needs for modifying existing flowsheet to ensure vital information is not lost and safety is never compromised for the patient. As a mentor and a preceptor her peers validate her compassion towards nursing and her patients. She understands the disease process and associated medication management. When asked about her patients she critically thinks through the comorbidities, any underlying social and psychosocial factors that will impact their current healing and progress. Her team often describes her as someone who can walk into a difficult situation, de-escalate the situation with patients and families, and put all at ease with a plan moving forward. Linsey's day to day practice, the ability to critically think, and the patient and family accolades she receives are outstanding. Her advocacy for patients and families and her ability to speak up for what is ethical and the right thing to do as challenging and difficult it may be is her utmost priority. This is what sets Linsey apart as an individual. She is collaborative, patient centered and utilizes a multidisciplinary approach when delivering care to patients. She participates in research by continually reading and keeping herself and her peers informed of what the best practices are recommending. She finds pertinent information to improve knowledge and the quality of care and shares with unit leadership and her peers. She is described by her peer nurses, physicians, advanced practice practitioners and other members of the interdisciplinary team as one who values all people, puts her patients and families first, does the right thing, and is responsible and empathetic in all that she does. Linsey is a clinical nurse III and participates in multiple initiatives and committees to make a positive difference for her patients. She is the first to speak up to ensure safety for all patients on the unit. She challenges herself to grow professionally and personally. It takes a professional who genuinely cares about the patient to care about the practice of her peers and to be comfortable in approaching them and guiding them to pay attention to detail, accept a questioning attitude, ARCC up their concerns if any and to deliver best-evidenced practice care in a safe and supportive environment. The impetus to excel comes from her vision that she is part of an amazing MAGNET organization and all patients should receive nothing but the best evidenced based care.