This nurse shows integrity, honesty and accountability in all that he does for his patients and his coworkers.  He always has the patient’s best interests in mind, regardless of what he is doing. This nurse displays integrity in the way he interacts with his peers by not only holding himself accountable for his actions, but by holding his peers accountable, as well.  He is not afraid to address issues with any of his peers, but he does so in a respectful, honest manner explaining to them the effects.  While covering for the Nurse Manager for several months, this nurse investigated safety issues and followed up with the nursing staff, dealt with challenging staff interactions, and handled staffing issues.

In addition to this he is very active as an adviser over all our unit committees and makes sure they have what they need in order to be effective committees and keep our nurses up to date on all new policies and procedures.

This nurse shows excellence is everything he does, whether it is at the bedside or in leading a unit meeting.  He strives to learn and understand the “why” of everything he does, so that he can provide the best care to his patients.  This is reflected in his not only becoming medical-surgical certified and advancing up the Clinical Ladder to a Clinical Nurse III, but also his advancement to Clinical Lead.  In addition, he is board-certified as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, having recently graduated from Duke’s Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program.

This nurse continuously updates the Tier 1 Huddle sheet to make it reflective of our current unit and hospital practices, so that staff are informed at the beginning of each shift of any changes in practices, protocols and/or procedures.  This nurse single-handedly designed, coordinated and led the Skills Day for our staff over four different days and times.

This nurse brings evidence-based practice to the unit through his involvement in and oversight of several committees.  This nurse formed our new Falls Committee and created unit standards and interventions to help decrease our falls.  He is innovative in his care and looks to improve patient outcomes through his work on these committees and his investigation of unit Swarms.  He designed a bedside report system for staff to follow at hand-off to ensure critical information is passed along to the next shift, so that patient care would be consistent and safe, preventing patient harm.  He recently worked with the Hospice Project Team to develop a General Inpatient (GIP) Hospice checklist.

This nurse has excellent working relationships with everyone he works with, including physicians, various therapists and support staff.  They respect his knowledge and judgment and know that the unit and his patients will receive excellent care.  One example of his partnering with other professionals occurred more recently as our unit prepared to move to another floor.  This nurse was involved in all the unit move meetings, designed the plan for staffing for the day of the move. and coordinated movement of our Pyxis, Omnicell and respiratory equipment with the various support staff from Pharmacy, Materials Management and Respiratory Therapy.  He was instrumental in coordinating the nursing staff and support staff to make the move as seamless as possible.  This nurse also coordinated assigning roles for each nursing staff working the day of the move, and he personally took on the role of initiating the move of each patient to the Command Center.  Once the move was complete, this nurse helped move remaining items from the unit and worked with Pharmacy, point-of-care staff, Environmental Services and Telemetry to resolve issues that had occurred as a result of the move.

This nurse incorporates Swanson’s Theory of Caring into the work he does every day.  He exemplifies Knowing through his completion of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program and continually educating himself on disease processes, procedures and treatments in order to be able to teach his patients and others.  He exemplifies being with when he is taking the time to get to know his patients, comfort them or celebrate with them.  He is always there for the nurses as Charge Nurse or as Clinical Lead, being with them through many of their first, sometimes difficult patient experiences.  This nurse will always demonstrate Doing for, whether it is helping a nurse who has a difficult assignment pass medications, assisting our nursing assistants with turning and cleaning patients, or doing an admission for another nurse.  This nurse exemplifies Enabling/Informing every day through his practice and teaching.  He exemplifies Maintaining Belief through his positive encouragement of other nurses.  He maintains belief with his patients by providing excellent care and answering their questions, and by managing up the next shift nurse so that his patients know everyone is working together for their best interests.

It is evident that this nurse not only takes great pride in providing exemplary patient care, but that he makes decisions that benefit patients, staff and the unit; knows how to be a proactive leader; and invests his time and skills in educating and producing quality nurses that desire to do the same.