July 2021
Greg
Dean
,
RN
Pediatric ICU
SickKids Hospital
Toronto
,
Ontario
Canada
Greg fully immerses himself in each assignment and looks for ways to use his skill set to improve the situation for the child and family.
Greg is a recent and highly valued addition to our team and from the start, he has embodied exemplary critical care nursing. Greg is the very definition of a skillful team player. He cheerfully takes on whatever duties are required of him, provides 100% focus and energy to every hour of every shift, is attuned to the needs of those around him, and is constantly and quietly solution-focused with day-to-day challenges. As a leadership team, we can be confident that all patients and nurses in his assigned area will be well supported. Greg fully immerses himself in each assignment and looks for ways to use his skill set to improve the situation for the child and family. A specific example that comes to mind is the compassionate care that Greg recently provided to a young man in our PICU. Cognitively intact, and almost completely unable to communicate his needs, this patient was experiencing distress, frustration and was becoming increasingly unwell as an impact of this situation. Greg was assigned to this young man for several days in a row. From the first moments he joined with this young man, he demonstrated gentle compassion and fortitude in the pursuit of ascertaining what this young man wished to tell us. Through working with the patients’ father and the Speech-Language Pathologist, Greg quickly adapted to this patient’s needs, using strategies such as a letter board to optimize this patient’s independent voice. He respected the young man and his agency, despite the challenge of severe physical limitations and ensured that his wishes were known. Greg acknowledged and moved beyond the patients’ vulnerabilities and used informed nursing skills to leverage and maximize this young man’s strengths – his knowledge of his own needs and the desire to have a direct impact on his own care. Greg’s consistent pursuit of a strength-based patient and family-centered care is what makes him stand out and makes him an excellent role model and leader at the bedside. Greg is the kind of nurse we would wish for our own family in our most fragile of moments.