In December 2021, Mercy's ICU was rapidly deteriorating. Aside from the weekend package crew, the majority of the nursing staff had resigned. Short-staffing accompanied by the last COVID surge pushed the unit to a breaking point. Patients were being turned away, as the ICU simply didn't have the staffing to care for the patients. More was abysmal, call-ins were a daily occurrence, and calls/texts asking for help were constant. The current nurse manager was spending the majority of her hours working on the floor, so many "managerial" tasks were falling by the wayside. Staff members were not being held accountable and the unit was falling into disrepair. We often didn't have needed supplies to care for patients. When asked about new hires, the current manager always said "No one's applying". The current manager left the position with little warning. Jessica Rohde had been hired to be the education specialist between the ICU & ED. She graciously assumed the position of the interim ICU manager. First and foremost, Jessica is an excellent nurse with years of experience. She can be considered a "role model of excellence" for nursing care. She jumped right into the position head first, taking the tiger by the tail. In the three months, she has been our manager, staffing has improved so dramatically that staff members are frequently being floated to other units to help. She was able to obtain multiple travel nurses to fill vacant lines, which took a huge amount of stress off the current staff. She has hired numerous full-time Mercy Hospital staff as well to fill the staffing void. These new hires will be functioning independently as travelers' contracts are expiring. She has an open-door policy and is easily approachable. She makes every effort to ensure staff are provided with the education needed to provide current, evidence-based treatment. She is working hard with the new ICU medical director to make improvements to the unit with new technology, procedures, and processes. She ensures that staff members are being held accountable, which has improved morale, and reduced call-ins dramatically. Our unit morale has increased tenfold. In addition to exceeding her job requirements, she also goes above and beyond to make staff feel appreciated and maintain a good work-home balance. She knows the "little things" mean the most. She also doesn't pull any punches. She strives to be as transparent as possible and attempts to get staff involved in decision-making/process changes. She has completely turned this unit around in three short months. I am much more hopeful about my future at this hospital, and Jessica is responsible. Instead of looking for a different job, I find myself thinking about the new opportunities I will have with her leadership. Her work ethic should be applauded, and she should be compensated accordingly. If she could be cloned, this would be a perfect place!

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In the few months that I have been in the ICU and known Jessica she has shown all the characteristics of an amazing leader and role model. When the ICU nurse manager position became vacant last year Jessica stepped in to fill that role. This not only increased her workload but, she had to take over all the problems of the unit as well. Jessica has made major improvements in the short time she has been the nurse manager with staffing being on of the most notable changes. She has worked hard to onboard and recruit more staff members and onboarding travelers as needed to fulfill our holes. I also believe that communication has improved as well since she has taken over, she sends out multiple emails throughout the week to keep us all up to date and informed of any changes very quickly. She has built a great rapport with all staff members and has been a great resource any time we have critical care questions, and never hesitates to jump in on the floor when help is needed. Staff members feel comfortable bringing up issues and problems we see to her and she always been willing to sit, listen and talk with us. With the recent staff turnover, education has been an issue that I see Jessica really working on. She has brought in representatives from companies in to educate us on their product, she has assigned online training and modules for us to do, and there's bulletin board with lots of helpful cheat sheets and reminders to help us with our everyday tasks. Even though I work nights I can see all the work Jess has been doing to make the ICU an awesome place to work. She is a true DAISY Nurse Leader.