I would like to take this opportunity to recognize this person for outstanding work on this unit. Like this person, I work nights only so we work together frequently. When he first joined our team, I was very impressed with his energy, and his attentiveness to the patients and their families. I have never had to “hunt him down” to make him aware of new orders. He is always looking ahead and anticipating and if there was a question, he would come to ask. Now, as he has become a charge nurse, there are so many things that he does that benefit the patient and their families and also help me out tremendously. He goes above and beyond what I have had any other charge nurse do in all my years here. As a charge nurse, he is always still taking on the care of patients and does not wait for his colleagues to max out before picking up patients. In addition to always shouldering an equal load of bedside care, he is also aware of what is going on with every other patient in the department. He knows why they are there, what the likely plan is and if the other nurse needs an extra hand, he jumps in without being asked.

I know these sound like generated platitudes, so let me give you several specific examples. During the January surges, I had one night when I was having to give particularly bad news to several different patients-a “bad diagnosis”, death notification, return of malignancy diagnosis, etc. None of these situations were his patients. As I went into each of these rooms that night, he came in right behind me and was in the room as I broke the news, discussed the tough things, etc. I did not say anything to him about having to do these “tough things”, these were not his patients and I did not ask him to come with me. He was just so aware of “his dept” and came in to be of service to the patient, family, and me. I was so grateful to him for doing that, it allowed me to do and say what was needed and then I could continue and he stayed to help. In 30+ years of working in this department, that is the first time I have ever had a charge nurse do that. Especially without being asked and with it not being his patient. I am always grateful for all our nurses do for our patients, but that night I was extra grateful because I felt extra supported by my charge nurse.

A second example occurred about a week later. We were on a busy night again. We inherited a patient from day shift whose main issue was psychiatric and that was why EMS was called. EMS was instructed on where to take the patient but they decided to bring her here anyway. Tele psych had been involved, inpatient psych recommended, but trying to find somewhere to transfer this patient was extra difficult. But this nurse did not just leave that process to the behavioral health liaison and social worker. In addition to handling his regular load of patients, he also got on the phone all night calling various facilities. Because he has worked at an ER that handled psych patients, he knew of places I had never heard of. So that morning, we had not only been turned down by the 4-5 behavioral health places that the liaison called, we had another 7 or 8 that he had tried. That is another example of him going above and beyond what is expected of the charge nurse. He was not only acting for the patient's best interest but also was supporting me in a huge way as well.

The last example/scenario is that this nurse is excellent at interacting with family members. He will field those phone calls listening to whatever the distant family member has a question or issues about and if necessary will forward it to me. HE is very good at knowing what needs to be brought to my attention and what he can handle. This allows me to have a buffer zone and keep seeing patients on a busy night and keep the flow going. I have come to know I can trust his assessment of patient situations, etc. IF he says, “ I need you in room_____,” there is a good reason I need to change gears and go there. So I guess a somewhat shortened version is that I believe this nurse Is an incredible asset to our department and to our facility. He is not only an incredible patient advocate but also supports his docs. He is keenly aware of what is happening around him and will go the extra mile for my patients and for me without being asked. There are many other things I could say, but these are some examples of recent situations where having this person as my charge nurse for busy night shifts ends up being put on my daily “I’m grateful for..” list. Please consider him as someone who deserves far more kudos and “atta boys” than I could ever give him. Thank you!