Mini Kannookkadan
May 2021
Mini
Kannookkadan
,
MSN,RN, CMS-RN, SCRN
16 Neuro Science Acute Care Unit (NS ACU)
Parkland Health & Hospital System
Dallas
,
TX
United States
is never afraid to run onto the floor to answer a bed alarm, help clean a patient, or sit at a patient's bedside and pray.
Mini is a compassionate leader with a real open-door policy. She is an engaged team leader and role model that always puts the patient and her team first and demonstrates Parkland's circles in her everyday actions. She shows compassion by going out of her way to assist every nurse and tech in any way she can through good times and bad. She is very slow with judgment and quick with a kind word and a thoughtful prayer. COVID-19 has been rough and frustrating on all of us. More than a few of us have interrupted her day with venting, crying, and sometimes both. She has never turned any of us away and has a way of being our calm in whatever storm we are dealing with.
She shows integrity through her honesty and hard work. She always speaks to each of us during management walkarounds (MBWA) and shares benchmarks and what it will take to achieve the next goal. Our unit rates of CAUTI, stroke measures, and fall (HD scoring) have all improved with her persistent efforts. A good leader must provide accountability and have a perception of justice, and she exudes just that with each member of the unit.
She gives respect to each of us through the building of trust and benevolence. Whenever you have scheduling issues, she will sit and work out days or times needed until it is resolved. I have done this many times with my school schedule and need to change days when visiting my college son. I have also seen many others who had to school their children from home and change their schedules.
Transformational leadership is the key to building a culture of safety. This AUM practices two-way communication with each of us in building and coordinating unit goals. No single person on the unit ever feels like just a collection of skills or capabilities. She finds opportunities to let us shine and expresses individual appreciation when one of us has gone above and beyond the call of duty or taken the time for exceptional teamwork. We are genuinely a team excited about accomplishing a compelling vision.
Mini always collaborates and uses inspirational motivation by role modeling values and behaviors with every unit member. She is never afraid to run onto the floor to answer a bed alarm, help clean a patient, or sit at a patient's bedside and pray. I have even walked into a patient room and found her helping clean a patient with the patient tech. When we have been short-staffed on the unit, she has acted as a charge nurse to keep patient ratios safe.
She shows excellence in her responsiveness to all verbal, email, and mail requests. This AUM remains humble and approachable in all her interactions with staff. Whenever there is a problem, she is not afraid to dive right in and lend a helpful hand. She displays stewardship by protecting our PPE, while making sure each of us have what we need to be safe every day. She also quite often brings food for the entire unit, even when there is not a celebration. After Covid struck, she even started individually packing lunches and dinners for the whole unit, so that we could enjoy ourselves while socially distancing.
During the ice storms, this AUM arrived on the unit before conditions were impassable. She did not leave for five days. She took turns with available staff to HUC, sit 1:1, takes vitals, passes out trays, and I even saw her showering a patient. One evening, we had all the scheduled nurses except for a few calls in the worst of it. She helped count narcotics, make assignments, and did all the daily audits. As soon as her husband was able to drive on the roads, she fed us (again), and of course – every meal was in individual containers.
Mini is such a wonderful mentor and a great example of what leadership is meant to be—leading by example.
This Associate Unit Manager also has a hidden talent! She is a singer and has recorded many songs!
She shows integrity through her honesty and hard work. She always speaks to each of us during management walkarounds (MBWA) and shares benchmarks and what it will take to achieve the next goal. Our unit rates of CAUTI, stroke measures, and fall (HD scoring) have all improved with her persistent efforts. A good leader must provide accountability and have a perception of justice, and she exudes just that with each member of the unit.
She gives respect to each of us through the building of trust and benevolence. Whenever you have scheduling issues, she will sit and work out days or times needed until it is resolved. I have done this many times with my school schedule and need to change days when visiting my college son. I have also seen many others who had to school their children from home and change their schedules.
Transformational leadership is the key to building a culture of safety. This AUM practices two-way communication with each of us in building and coordinating unit goals. No single person on the unit ever feels like just a collection of skills or capabilities. She finds opportunities to let us shine and expresses individual appreciation when one of us has gone above and beyond the call of duty or taken the time for exceptional teamwork. We are genuinely a team excited about accomplishing a compelling vision.
Mini always collaborates and uses inspirational motivation by role modeling values and behaviors with every unit member. She is never afraid to run onto the floor to answer a bed alarm, help clean a patient, or sit at a patient's bedside and pray. I have even walked into a patient room and found her helping clean a patient with the patient tech. When we have been short-staffed on the unit, she has acted as a charge nurse to keep patient ratios safe.
She shows excellence in her responsiveness to all verbal, email, and mail requests. This AUM remains humble and approachable in all her interactions with staff. Whenever there is a problem, she is not afraid to dive right in and lend a helpful hand. She displays stewardship by protecting our PPE, while making sure each of us have what we need to be safe every day. She also quite often brings food for the entire unit, even when there is not a celebration. After Covid struck, she even started individually packing lunches and dinners for the whole unit, so that we could enjoy ourselves while socially distancing.
During the ice storms, this AUM arrived on the unit before conditions were impassable. She did not leave for five days. She took turns with available staff to HUC, sit 1:1, takes vitals, passes out trays, and I even saw her showering a patient. One evening, we had all the scheduled nurses except for a few calls in the worst of it. She helped count narcotics, make assignments, and did all the daily audits. As soon as her husband was able to drive on the roads, she fed us (again), and of course – every meal was in individual containers.
Mini is such a wonderful mentor and a great example of what leadership is meant to be—leading by example.
This Associate Unit Manager also has a hidden talent! She is a singer and has recorded many songs!