Lacie has been the clinical manager of the Medical ICU for almost four years now and stepped into the role just after the old Intermediate Care Unit at University Medical Center Brackenridge transitioned to become the Medical ICU.
Lacie was the clinical manager during the move from University Medical Center Brackenridge to Dell Seton Medical Center in May of 2017. During the months before the move, she coordinated much of the operational readiness to prepare the new Medical ICU to take patients on May 21st, 2017. On that incredible 'Move Day,' she was on-site with a team of incredible Medical ICU nurses caring for some incredibly complex patients, some of whom had deteriorated that very morning and required urgent transfer from Acute Care to the Medical ICU.
Now, during one of the most challenging and unpredictable times that we've seen in recent memory, Lacie has again proven herself to be a strong and capable leader. Beyond the operational needs to ensure her staff remains as safe as possible while caring for patients who are positive for COVID-19, she has herself become a clinical expert in the disease so that she cannot only address administrative questions but also clinical questions and concerns as well. Lacie worked with her team to modify the layout of the existing Medical ICU to denote exactly where PPE should be donned and doffed to minimize exposure of contaminated PPE to staff. She helped to organize Mock Code scenarios to work through the unique challenges that resuscitating a patient with COVID-19 might involve. She has been incredibly responsive to questions or concerns raised by her staff. In collaboration with the manager of the Surgical ICU, she even organized her own Town Hall for the Critical Care Nurses at Dell Seton to address all the questions that had been raised and to dispel any rumors that came up. Lacie has made herself available to her staff at all hours, coming in on nights and weekends to help directly answer their questions and concerns.
While there are many, many brave nurses who have stepped up to care for patients with COVID-19 at Dell Seton and around the world, the operational effectiveness of the hospital and unit leaders to quickly establish new processes and guidelines to care for these patients required deliberate and thoughtful leadership. Lacie Greer provided that leadership for the Medical ICU and has proven herself over and over to be an incredible nurse leader at Dell Seton Medical Center.