April 2022
Stacey A
Cottle
,
RN
9NS PCU MOSU Surg/Gyn Onc / BUMCT
Banner University Medical Center Tucson
Tucson
,
AZ
United States
When I see her interacting with our patients and team members, I observe her making a difference in the patients' and staff's lives.
Stacey is a charge nurse and preceptor and has been a major resource for 11 years. She works on a progressive care unit that specializes in surgical oncology including head and neck, urology, and gynecologic cancers. Stacey works on improving the quality of care for our patients and staff. She has led the charge to decrease catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated bloodstream infections, pressure ulcers, medication errors, and much more. We have simultaneously tackled many projects including decreasing infections after having abdominal hysterectomies (SIR rate for GYN Oncology for 2020 and 2021 was 0) and improving postoperative pneumonia by implementing the I COUGH program. Stacey was one of the authors to publish their article in MedSurg Nursing Journal. She presented at Tucson Nurses Week Foundation Conference. Her Wow factor is her enthusiasm for nursing and caring for patients. Safety for patients is one of her main concerns. The patients always come first. She treats her patients as she would her family. She is a role model. She is also a mentor to the staff on our unit and presented a poster in Phoenix on our data regarding how the I COUGH program decreased the number of postoperative pneumonia cases. She is dedicated to our core values and provides a healthy work environment for all the staff. She is an excellent clinician, mentor, teacher, and leader. She provides excellent care to patients and is a role model on our unit and in the hospital. She is an exceptional leader and has an extensive body of knowledge in medical-surgical nursing. By being a charge nurse, she leads the staff and sets the tone for the entire day. Everyone sees how calm and confident she is as a leader. The nominee is a preceptor and both new nurses and students want her to be their preceptor. She is able to delegate and uses her time very efficiently. She is creative, and assertive and has a high degree of professional accountability. She was on the I COUGH Committee. Decreasing pneumonia is a house-wide concern and she is working on decreasing that number in our unit. She is truly a compassionate leader and is the backbone of the unit. She stays kind, encouraging, and supportive to all the nurses under her no matter how busy and difficult the shift is. People working with her feel supported and successful. This nurse stays as late as needed to help the night shift get off to a good start. She helps the unit operate smoothly. Her compassion is aimed at both the patients and the staff. This nurse loves her patients and animals. She has worked for a horse rescue and prepared the feed, fed the horses, and cleaned the pens. She provided rehab to the horses and cared for the horse's wounds. She gives care and love to the horses who have suffered neglect. When this nurse is at the bedside, she tries to make sure no one is suffering. She is the nurse who advocates for her patients just like she did for the horses. She has provided toys for tots, food for food donations, and clothing for donations to Aviva Children's Center. She has volunteered at her children's school, organizing items, printing materials, and grading schoolwork. She is at the school to show what nurses do to help out education for our children. During our most recent Remodulin/Remunity Inservice, she arrived and during her session, the nurse educator from United Therapeutics received a phone call from her husband that he was locked out of the rental vehicle and stranded. She had stepped away from the training session trying to figure out how to get her husband back to the hospital by taxi or uber, and not being very tech-savvy, became distressed. This nurse offered to take the key to the educator's husband where he was stranded. The rep was so appreciative and grateful that this nurse would go out of her way to help her and her husband. This selfless act of kindness is natural for her. She is a fantastic charge nurse, nurse, and colleague. She shows kindness regularly by being supportive, offering comfort, and being a helping hand. When I see her interacting with our patients and team members, I observe her making a difference in the patients' and staff's lives. She is an outstanding clinician, and she exemplifies exceptional leadership and professionalism. She was the nurse that presented at the journal club on how to decrease postoperative pneumonia. She showed others that it was not scary to review the evidence and be a member of the team to try to implement a program to help the problem. She has written a nursing article for a peer-reviewed journal, presented at multiple conferences, and is a true leader.