This recognition is a wonderful way to honor Kevin and an opportunity to highlight Kevin’s story to show how his dedication and contributions to UCDH have touched many employees and patients over his 30 plus year career. 

Kevin’s journey started in 1990 in SICU 2, where he started as a clinical nurse and was promoted to a CNIII. His love for patients and skill for teaching was apparent, and nobody was surprised when his career path led him to be our first critical care educator. Kevin excelled in the CC Educator position, developing the program, building critical care standards, skills, policies, and training curriculums, and laying the groundwork for all of us nurses in critical care at UCDH to contribute to the amazing patient care and outcomes we deliver for patients in all our Adult ICUs. Kevin was also a large contributor to critical care education in our community with the ECCO Course, providing the development of critical care nurses across all health systems. 

The ECLS program was another endeavor of Kevin’s, and he has watched it grow and expand. We are so grateful for Kevin’s passion for our CT Surgery care and owe a large part of the program's success and growth to the vision and preparedness that Kevin facilitated and continues to build. This is evidenced by our successful adult program and by his success in advocating for our new Adult ECLS Coordinator leadership position, added last year. 

In the CTICU and NSICU Director Roles, Kevin has continued to foster success in his units with recognition for excellence in patient care as evidenced by our accreditation in VAD, Heart Attack, Stroke, and ECLS. True to his nature, he has continued to advocate for employee onboarding, leadership training, and preparation, that is displayed in the wonderful care patients receive in the NSICU and CTICU. 

Patient connection has always been important to Kevin- several stories have been shared of Kevin’s dedication to patients by stepping in when needed to assist with pump care, provide an extra set of hands for a transport, aid in troubleshooting equipment, and of course provide a moment of theory-based teaching or documentation insight. 

Which leads us to another of Kevin’s areas of passion/expertise over the years- EMR functionality, documentation, and pain management. Over the course of several years, Kevin has been committed to maintaining his membership on the EMR Council, Care Plan Workgroup, and Pain Management Committees and Courses. Kevin is an invaluable Subject matter expert for nursing documentation, order sets, reporting, device utilization and integration, and the policy alignment for all electronic workflows. 

Kevin’s combined knowledge of practice, EMR workflows, and policy has made him a valuable resource to rely on when we have regulatory visits and the need to review policy and practice for all areas in which patient care may be delivered. AND even though this is a call that disrupts your day, is unexpected, and can be intimidating, Kevin manages the explanations and questions from our surveying agencies with grace and professionalism each time, exhibiting patience and aiding in our success as an organization.

Kevin’s years of service to UCDH have been full of change and transition -not just in his own roles, but in our environments, standards of practice, leadership, and even management during a pandemic. Those who have the benefit of knowing Kevin know he is genuinely affected by his relationships with his peers, and his employees, and is so dedicated to the care his patients receive.

For all the reasons given, and many more that are not captured here, it remains apparent that Kevin deserves this recognition for a DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award.