Bailey Burge
October 2022
Bailey
Burge
,
MSN, RN, CCRN
Burn ICU
UMC Health System
Lubbock
,
TX
United States

 

 

 

​​​​​​​Bailey's leadership has made what would be something emotionally scarring for any nurse or healthcare worker into something that has grown the strength of our team immensely.
A 19-month-old child was admitted to the burn center about one month ago. On the day of admission, as soon as Bailey heard of the severity of the injuries she immediately started to lead the team in preparation thinking of everything possible. Critically ill burned children are very unique. It's hard to be an expert in this particular field because of the extremely low volume. There are pediatric critical care experts and burn experts but not many pediatric critical care burn experts. Bailey not only prepared clinically for the child, but she also prepared everyone as a leader. In the first few hours, she established rapport with everyone involved including the different physician disciplines. She clarified everyone's roles. She made sure there was loop closure on small details such as CPS case number and big details such as what depth we were documenting the ETT. She reassured a very new nursing staff and worked many, many hours those first few days providing emotional support to staff and answering clinical questions.

Fast forward to a few days after admission when the patient had a major crisis. The child had to go to the OR emergently and things were looking very bleak. She encouraged everyone not to panic, to stay positive, and focus on our tasks. She was creative in her ideas for what we could do to save this child in extremis that we could not seem to ventilate. I'm not sure who thought of proning the child first, it may or may not have been her but she really made it happen. She gathered a team of the best experts in the hospital. We proned that baby, and she's alive today because of Bailey's leadership and clinical skills. (And of course all the efforts of so many members of the UMC team).

Bailey's leadership has made what would be something emotionally scarring for any nurse or healthcare worker into something that has grown the strength of our team immensely. The patient is not completely in the clear yet, but regardless of the outcome, Bailey's leadership has been outstanding.