I was really fortunate to work with Amanda Alexander in the ICU, and her actions on that day have motivated me to nominate her for the DAISY Award. The day started with staffing issues as most days do, leading to multiple discussions between myself, Amanda in her capacity as charge nurse, and the ANM. Despite having two pretty busy patients herself, I found her actively engaged in the dialogue to better provide for our patients despite having limited resources. The nursing staff was scheduled to lose a nurse at 3 PM today, and Amanda was tasked with allocating that nurse's patients to the remaining staff. Since she was the charge nurse working on a relatively busy day with two busy patients, it would have been easy to delegate those patients to other nurses. Still, Amanda assessed the situation and realized that taking one of those patients would be the fair thing to do. I think she demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities by doing so.

Perhaps her most impressive act came at the end of our shift that day. The family of one of her COVID positive patients decided to withdraw care around shift change after spending some time with him. The patient was young, and the case was emotional for all involved in his care. The patient's mother-in-law volunteered to sit with him while he passed since his wife was too devastated to do it, and Amanda stood with her and provided a comforting shoulder to cry on. While most would have deferred this responsibility to the oncoming shift, Amanda willingly took on that responsibility. The last two years have been difficult for all involved in healthcare, and I believe Amanda Alexander's display of leadership and empathy on this day was inspirational.