Role Model Compassionate Care: When reviewing the list of selection criteria for this award, Bri truly exemplifies each point consistently. Clinically, she is an exemplary nurse who is a resource to all staff. A very common phrase heard on NP12 or any of the areas she manages is “let’s ask Bri”. She is our go to girl for help with patient care, starting IVs, trouble with interdisciplinary care teams, chemo, pharmacy questions… she does it all. Bri is respected by her staff because she has created an environment where staff not only feel comfortable coming to her with anything, but they also feel confident with the help or information she gives them.

When possible, Bri can be found on the unit/s providing patient care, answering call bells, or doing a chart review with nurses to help them critically think about a difficult patient scenario. She consistently ensures that the staff have what they need to provide excellent care with the goal of ensuring the best patient outcomes.

Special Connection: As stated previously, Bri is trusted and respected by her staff because of the nurse and person that she is. The door to her office is always open, and she always makes herself available to talk with her staff, if she can’t immediately speak with them. She always follows through with what she says which is also one of the ways she has gained the respect of her staff, which shows how much she respects them. She has a daily “to-do” list, that must finish before leaving work to make sure all staff that she needs to follow up with have their needs met. She also always answers her phone even on the weekend if the staff needs assistance, and she makes you feel like it’s not a burden to her that on her day off you are reaching out to her.

Brianna is a compassionate leader who noticed the impact consistently working with an emotionally heavy population was having on the staff on her inpatient unit, NP 12. Although the Critical Incident Response Team has been a helpful resource for traumatic events throughout the hospital, they are not available day to day for the smaller scenarios, but also for discussion about the job overall. Bri created a group called “Codes Over Coffee”, an open forum for staff to talk about whatever they want relating to work. The discussion may be about the recent death of a patient, a difficult code, or simply just to recognize the difficulty of our job at times caring for oncology patients. It is an informal opportunity for staff to lean on each other for support in a comfortable environment, so that they may continue to work in an environment where nurses could easily burn out.

Significant Difference: Bri is a respected member of the nursing staff, and her staff look to her for guidance when needed. She helps staff to understand difficult situations and uses each scenario as an opportunity to learn. She works with other disciplines to discuss scenarios where the nursing staff felt like they were being ignored and reports back to the staff to maintain transparency when appropriate. She also encourages staff to go back to school, helps them with SPIRE and is an active member of the Smilow Rewards and Recognition Committee.

Personally, she is a mentor to me, because of who she is in all aspects of her career and how she carries herself. She has gained the respect of many, and makes every patient, staff member, family member, and provider feel like they are the most important and her sole focus when she is talking with them, even though she may have a Zoom meeting on the computer, countless emails, and a long “to-do” list. She is a dedicated nurse who inspires and supports her staff wholeheartedly, who is constantly looking for ways to improve work for her staff and patients, and she is someone who without knowing, makes other nurses want to be better because of who she is as a nurse, a leader, and a person.