Dennis Pettigrew exemplifies the word, “Leader.” I have had the pleasure of witnessing and experiencing Dennis’s skills as a leader time and time again. He executes this nursing leadership through the respect he has gained and, “Earned,” from not only his nursing and mental health counseling staff, but from our entire department. Dennis has an uncanny ability to consistently maintain his quiet strength throughout endless meetings, communications with heads of administration, casual discussions with his coordinators, conversations with patients, conversations with parents, and very difficult conversations with staff. He is openly approachable to our unit for everything from schedule changes to personal issues, quality improvement projects, improving efficiency and cost effectiveness of our unit and helping to manage positive outcomes for difficult patient cases. Under each of these situations, Dennis is always acutely aware of, and eager to take the most direct path which will yield the best healthcare outcomes for our patients and families.
He leads the way to the implementation of SAMA (Sartori Alternatives to Managing Aggression) on our behavioral science units. This has required incredible effort from him in personally obtaining certification for SAMA instruction. His certification has subsequently included his personally training our entire department as well as the entire neuroscience department. His trainings have included Mental Health Counselors, Nurses, Psychiatrists, Therapists, Clinical Psychologists and Social Workers. Through his innovation and vision for our unit to decrease the number of restraints and seclusions, he has lead by example and in doing so, has motivated and inspired a complete cultural shift for our entire unit on how we intervene with our patients. The initial SAMA training began on Sept. 6th. Our seclusion number for August was a total of 32, as we began to practice SAMA on our unit the total number of seclusions for September was 25, and for October it was 16. I believe this is a direct correlation to the initiation of SAMA. This is not only very best practice, it also fosters the safest working environment for patients and staff alike.
Dennis’s insight has directly impacted our quality of patient care, and has greatly improved the safety of our unit. I have witnessed our staff become rejuvenated, joining as a team to strive for excellence through this positive change in our culture. CHC has plans now to ultimately train our entire hospital due to Dennis’s initiative. I cannot imagine the numbers of patients and families this will ultimately affect. Through this coordinated SAMA program, our CHC BART team will continue to run smoothly and efficiently, with hospital-wide benefits as it becomes unified through this cohesive approach toward patient de-escalation. Our patients and families will continue to feel and BE safe in our hospital.
With the initiation of SAMA, Dennis has replaced an existing position with a much more cost effective, productive position. Through Dennis’s vision this position includes, but is not limited to, SAMA training, outreach programs to potentially increase funding through non-profit donations, and increased visibility of our unit in the CHC network and in the community at large. These initiatives will also provide avenues for staff to become more involved in the process of improvement for our unit, thus realizing a positive impact for change. Through his leadership, Dennis acknowledges the importance of his staff’s sense of ownership in our unit, and he has shown that this ultimately results in best patient outcomes.
Dennis has achieved all of this within less than two years in his current position. He has been a staff nurse on our floor, a clinical coordinator for our unit, and is now our manager. He is extremely in touch with the unique needs of our unit to be fully equipped to consistently deliver best practice care to our patients. (Many specific examples may be given, but too many to list. I will be happy to provide if requested). He demonstrates, through all that he does, that he fully and completely values and respects the incredible responsibility upon him to ensure that each of our patients receives the very best of care from each one of us. I believe that through Dennis’s leadership, our talented staff are now TRULY dedicated and motivated to deliver high quality service and that they believe, and now know, that our patients deserve this quality of care at Children’s Hospital Colorado.