Transformational leadership is critical to organizational success in today's healthcare industry. Lorraine exemplifies this by leading two in-patient units at Jefferson Methodist Hospital. She has been very effective in her role as a leader that supported the growth of her staff in ways that propels them to function better in their roles as compassionate caregivers. She encouraged their participation in the daily unit operations through a shared governance model, with staff collaborating daily to solve patient-related challenges and issues that affect camaraderie and productivity.

She is constantly engaged with enhancing the positive patient experience and balancing staff satisfaction with their daily workloads. I consider Lorraine as a "leader with many initiatives." She transcends her job description of providing leadership within the bounds of her direct reports by taking on bigger challenges to help the facility's goal of providing quality care to the community we serve. The initiatives she has implemented made a measurable difference to patients, staff, and the other inter-professional team members. She has set herself apart in the workplace by constantly improving processes to make outcomes better and achieve goals.

As a nurse leader, she was able to foster an environment where genuine, compassionate care is evident. The introduction of multiple unit-based quality improvement projects geared towards improving the quality of care directly provided to the patients has been noteworthy over the past years. Her capacity to foresee a need in any given situation is a virtue that has been polished over the years. To standardize the admission information for patients seeking medical care to the unit, she worked with key stakeholders, including staff leaders and members of the interdisciplinary team, to create a welcome video that patients can view to get them acclimated to the unit's set up, provide them instructions on what to anticipate during the admission process and answers their expectations and common questions thus reducing anxiety and unease. Likewise, when she noted that delay in the initiation of care has progressively increased for patients admitted to one of her specialty units, she immediately advocated for the approval of a transition nurse position to facilitate admission, jumpstart documentation and assist in patient education with the ultimate goal of decreasing start time for treatment initiation.

Another quality improvement initiative that has tremendously impacted the patients in the specialty unit is incorporating arts and music as an adjunct to the aggressive treatment modality for patients admitted for chronic pain alleviation. This has been well received by the target patients and has been widely praised in disrupting the symptoms they are currently experiencing and, somehow, provides comfort and supports wellbeing. These positive results have propelled her units to be noticed for excellence.

Both units she manages garnered multiple national awards and recognition. In the daily discharge of her roles and responsibilities as a nurse leader, Lorraine serves as an unofficial mentor to the staff on organizational values, which the unit readily embraces. The nurse leader is an advocate in exhibiting the hospital's vision because this guides and informs the actions of the staff in the unit. Team members are expected to demonstrate these shared values and goals, making it possible to create a consensus of mutual respect, collaboration, and support.