Needless to say, the world has experienced many changes over the last 2-3 years, and the MICU at UVA Health is no different. Change can have a negative or positive impact on groups or individuals. Transitioning Kris Blackstone into the leadership role of MICU manager was a welcomed change. When we started preparing to write this submission, we immediately googled the word "Leadership." We came across this statement that could not have described Kris more perfectly, "true leadership is much more than authority and recognition from the outside world. Leadership is about developing people and helping others reach their full potential. It's about equipping others with the right tools and strategies not only to maximize the success of an organization but also the lives of individuals." Kris embodies every part of this every day in the MICU. This nomination is a combination of all the little stories that we heard just by asking around in the MICU. These stories make Kris extraordinary and how she makes the MICU a great place to work.

The MICU can be a stressful and emotional environment. Kris takes the time to foster each staff member's emotional well-being. After a nurse's particularly bad day, Kris called that nurse at home to make sure she was okay and to offer support. Recently, we had one of our own team members pass away on our unit and Kris took the time to text every nurse that was part of their care team to offer support. No task is too small for Kris. There was a patient off the unit for brain death testing. Kris stayed over to completely clean and organize that patient's room for the nurse. This allowed the family to spend the last moments with their loved ones in a peaceful room and take that small worry away from the bedside nurse. One of the Nurse Practitioners said that Kris was an "emotional sounding board." She truly listens, takes in a problem, and offers real solutions to help and support us. While offering solutions, she also offers clinicians ways to solve these issues in the moment with leadership skills she has collected over the years.

Being a great leader means that Kris has humility. She knows when she doesn't know the answer or needs help. She understands her resources and who to reach out to. For example, Kris has helped coordinate many moral distress meetings for the staff. This last one, she came in on her day off to eat baked potatoes with our team to allow us to vent and be heard about some recent difficult situations.

She is approachable, compassionate, and a team player. We have found her in rooms doing clean ups, taking phone calls, and doing bedside education with staff. She completed Special Pathogens Training to serve as a resource to us. There is a group of MICU nurses trained to handle special pathogens, like Ebola if there was an outbreak. Just like the rest of the staff trained she would be called in to go into these rooms and take care of patients.

Kris creates an environment where we are expected to be open with each other and give real time feedback and settle our differences in a respectful and kind manner. Her claim to fame is asking, "Did you discuss this with the team member in the moment and share your concerns?". This is cultivating a new, positive culture in the MICU where patient care and respectful communication is priority at all times. She has a completely open-door policy. You can go in any time, and she will stop what she is doing to listen to your concerns. She even has a huge basket of candy and snacks that is always full.

Not only does she support her staff at work she does the same outside of work. Unfortunately, there have been several team members with loss of loved ones. Kris has been to every funeral or viewing to give her support no matter the time or place. A nurse was subpoenaed to court to testify about a patient. Kris did not think twice about it and made plans to attend court with the nurse to help ease her anxiety. Kris leads with compassion and humility. A chaplain told us that one time she ripped her pants at work. Kris walked behind her and took her to get new pants. She supports everyone that cycles through the MICU as her own staff members.

Kris is our protector. Recently, we had a very difficult family and patient situation. It was morally and ethically distressing. The patient was here for months, and there were frequent meetings with the family that were emotionally draining. Kris took it upon herself to go to every meeting and represent the bedside nurses. By doing that, she allowed the bedside staff to remain on good terms with the family. By doing this, Kris decreases burnout and resentment of the bedside staff. It allowed us to still care for the patient and not spend half of our shift in meetings with family. Our NPs took care of this patient, and when we asked them about why Kris deserved this award, they kept coming back to this story. Kris was there for the NPs just as she was for the nurses. She believes that we are one team working together to take care of these patients.

Kris meets with every single new hire. We are a unit with lots of travelers and new staff, and she takes the time to know each person. When a traveler needed somewhere to stay in between contracts Kris offered for her to stay in her basement. We have also had a few passport nurses join the MICU staff. Kris has been integral in their orientation. Taking the time to customize each of their orientations and working with their preceptor teams. She makes sure that their transition to UVA Health and the US is as seamless as possible.

She supports her staff's professional development. She fosters us and gives us opportunities to grow as nurses and as people. She makes sure that we have time to go to our meetings by coordinating coverage on the unit. Kris is invested in rebuilding our shared governance and works closely with the shared governance chairs to find good fits for different positions. She works with our assistant managers to grow and help nurses climb the clinician ladder. Kris has given the opportunity for many of our nurses to go to conferences. This year, she committed to having all 10 of our clinician 1s go to the nursing summit. Not only does she support her staff's professional development, but she is always striving to better herself. She got accepted into the American Organization Manager Leadership Fellowship program. She also leads workgroups around the hospital including the Controlled Substance Oversight Committee.

Kris is committed to giving the best and safest care to our patients. She is passionate, enthusiastic, and motivated. During our morning huddles, she is there talking about our huddle points, patient safety risk rounds, and how, as a team, we can support our patients. One of our fellows created the Bundle Board. This takes information for the patient's chart and displays it on the screen in three colors. It tells our interdisciplinary team about things that might need to be assessed. An example would be a bleeding central line. Kris is on the unit everyday providing education to our staff about how to use it and why it is important. It shows that she supports our interdisciplinary partners, but she believes in the power of innovation and change. Kris was also one of the organizers of the Unit Based Leader meeting every Wednesday in the MICU. This takes place every Wednesday with an interdisciplinary group of providers, nurses, management, and our unit CNS. We go over safety issues for the unit and get everyone on the same page.

Kris has the energy we all wish we had. We are pretty sure it's fueled by Diet Pepsi and an expectation that the MICU is the best place to work and receive care. I wish we could say that all these stories were rare occurrences, but they are not. Kris is just that extraordinary.