Sarah
Freund
November 2025
Sarah
Freund
,
BSN, RN
The University of Kansas Health System
Kansas City
,
KS
United States
Her empathy, innovation, and unwavering dedication to excellence make her not only a role model but a true inspiration. It is an honor to work alongside her and to witness the lasting impact she makes every day.
Sarah exemplifies every quality this award seeks to honor -- empathy, innovation, leadership, and a deep commitment to lifelong learning. Her impact as a nurse educator for the vascular access team (VAT) is both broad and profound, touching patients, nurses, and the entire healthcare system.
Sarah's compassion is evident in every interaction. She fosters a supportive learning environment where questions are welcomed, and growth is encouraged. Her ability to connect with learners at all levels -- whether new nurses in the nurse residency program (NRP) or experienced clinicians - creates a culture of trust and continuous improvement. I personally experienced this early on in my career as a vascular access nurse when she taught me how to use a J-tip device to ease PIV insertion for a pediatric patient. Her calm, clear instruction turned a moment of uncertainty into one of confidence and success.
Sarah leads by example, consistently going above and beyond to improve patient care and nursing practice. Her work on the vapocoolant trial with dialysis patients (approved in January 2025) demonstrates her commitment to patient comfort and evidencebased practice. She has also been instrumental in peripheral intravenous infiltration and extravasation (PIVIE) prevention, updating policies and procedures in November 2023 and developing a PIVIE "go-kit" with an NRP group from HC5.
Her dedication to education is unmatched. Sarah created a PIVIE Helix course for RNs (released May 2024), developed additional PIVIE education for UEs (released November 2024), and has overhauled VAT orientation to include hand-eye coordination drills, a vessel size scale, and a helpful terminology guide for new learners. She also sends out weekly intravascular newsletters with VA-BC certification-oriented study questions, reinforcing learning in a consistent and engaging way.
Sarah's collaborative spirit shines through her partnerships. She worked with the PICU team on Elevidys treatments, ensuring the success of the $3 million gene therapy infusions for Duchenne's muscular dystrophy patients. She also partnered with multiple NRP groups on impactful projects, including vapocoolant use in critical care (BH28 and HC9), a PIV dressing trial (BH61 and BH65), and a standardized PIV assessment tool (BH41, BH42, and BH45) - the latter of which will be presented at this year's Vizient conference.
Her leadership extends to quality improvement and innovation. She presented findings to practice and quality councils in 2025, initiated an apheresis via Powerwand midline trial in January of this year, and is currently finalizing the health system's limb alert guidelines. In May 2025, she was awarded a STAR grant to obtain additional educational materials VAT, further demonstrating her commitment to advancing nursing education.
Sarah's breadth of knowledge, especially in neonatal and pediatric vascular access, is a vital resource to her team. She frequently assists colleagues by helping us on the floor during busy days, and she is always willing to lend her expertise and support.
In every way, Sarah Freund embodies the spirit of the DAISY Nurse Educator Award. Her empathy, innovation, and unwavering dedication to excellence make her not only a role model but a true inspiration. It is an honor to work alongside her and to witness the lasting impact she makes every day.
I've had the privilege of working alongside Sarah for many years, and her depth of vascular access knowledge, combined with her infectious enthusiasm, has left a lasting impression on me. Her mentorship not only inspired me to pursue multiple certifications but also gave me the confidence to begin my graduate studies and work toward becoming a clinical nurse specialist. Sarah embodies the kind of nurse I aspire to be - knowledgeable, compassionate, and a true leader in practice and education.
Sarah's compassion is evident in every interaction. She fosters a supportive learning environment where questions are welcomed, and growth is encouraged. Her ability to connect with learners at all levels -- whether new nurses in the nurse residency program (NRP) or experienced clinicians - creates a culture of trust and continuous improvement. I personally experienced this early on in my career as a vascular access nurse when she taught me how to use a J-tip device to ease PIV insertion for a pediatric patient. Her calm, clear instruction turned a moment of uncertainty into one of confidence and success.
Sarah leads by example, consistently going above and beyond to improve patient care and nursing practice. Her work on the vapocoolant trial with dialysis patients (approved in January 2025) demonstrates her commitment to patient comfort and evidencebased practice. She has also been instrumental in peripheral intravenous infiltration and extravasation (PIVIE) prevention, updating policies and procedures in November 2023 and developing a PIVIE "go-kit" with an NRP group from HC5.
Her dedication to education is unmatched. Sarah created a PIVIE Helix course for RNs (released May 2024), developed additional PIVIE education for UEs (released November 2024), and has overhauled VAT orientation to include hand-eye coordination drills, a vessel size scale, and a helpful terminology guide for new learners. She also sends out weekly intravascular newsletters with VA-BC certification-oriented study questions, reinforcing learning in a consistent and engaging way.
Sarah's collaborative spirit shines through her partnerships. She worked with the PICU team on Elevidys treatments, ensuring the success of the $3 million gene therapy infusions for Duchenne's muscular dystrophy patients. She also partnered with multiple NRP groups on impactful projects, including vapocoolant use in critical care (BH28 and HC9), a PIV dressing trial (BH61 and BH65), and a standardized PIV assessment tool (BH41, BH42, and BH45) - the latter of which will be presented at this year's Vizient conference.
Her leadership extends to quality improvement and innovation. She presented findings to practice and quality councils in 2025, initiated an apheresis via Powerwand midline trial in January of this year, and is currently finalizing the health system's limb alert guidelines. In May 2025, she was awarded a STAR grant to obtain additional educational materials VAT, further demonstrating her commitment to advancing nursing education.
Sarah's breadth of knowledge, especially in neonatal and pediatric vascular access, is a vital resource to her team. She frequently assists colleagues by helping us on the floor during busy days, and she is always willing to lend her expertise and support.
In every way, Sarah Freund embodies the spirit of the DAISY Nurse Educator Award. Her empathy, innovation, and unwavering dedication to excellence make her not only a role model but a true inspiration. It is an honor to work alongside her and to witness the lasting impact she makes every day.
I've had the privilege of working alongside Sarah for many years, and her depth of vascular access knowledge, combined with her infectious enthusiasm, has left a lasting impression on me. Her mentorship not only inspired me to pursue multiple certifications but also gave me the confidence to begin my graduate studies and work toward becoming a clinical nurse specialist. Sarah embodies the kind of nurse I aspire to be - knowledgeable, compassionate, and a true leader in practice and education.