May 2025
Sandra
Elliott
,
BSN, RN
GI ENDO
Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center
Livingston
,
NJ
United States
Sandi has cultivated a non-punitive environment where the staff freely discuss safety events during the daily huddle. Over time, this has developed into a mutual respect and an environment of trust. Being able to freely discuss safety events and concerns, knowing we are supported, allows us to make the necessary changes to ensure patient safety.
Sandra Elliot exemplifies extraordinary behavior through her unwavering commitment to patient care and staff development in the GI Endoscopy Unit. Her actions reflect the highest standards of professionalism and compassion, inspiring those around her to strive for excellence. Sandra's ability to remain calm and composed in challenging situations sets a powerful example for her team, showcasing her resilience and dedication to nursing.
Sandra fosters an environment where trust, compassion, and mutual respect are not just ideals but everyday practices. She actively supports continuous professional development, encouraging her team to pursue further education and certifications. Her ethical behavior and transparent communication build a foundation of trust, ensuring that every team member feels valued and respected. Sandra's leadership is characterized by her ability to motivate staff with a shared vision and enthusiasm. She communicates a clear and compelling vision for the future, aligning her team's goals with the broader mission of the organization. Her enthusiasm is contagious, driving her team to achieve better outcomes for themselves and their patients. Sandra's motivational skills are evident in the high morale and dedication of her staff. Sandra is a passionate advocate for the nursing profession, both within the organization and in the broader community. She actively participates in community outreach programs, promoting the importance of nursing and healthcare. Her efforts to enhance the image of nursing are reflected in her involvement in professional organizations and her commitment to mentoring the next generation of nurses. Sandra's dedication to the profession elevates the status of nursing and inspires others to follow in her footsteps.
Sandra is a great leader and team player in our unit, encourages team input, values our opinions in decision making for all aspects of clinical and managerial issues, and guides us to practice at the highest level of our capabilities.
***
Sandi demonstrates extraordinary behavior by being a hardworking, dedicated team player. She is a leader who listens to her colleagues and strives for the best in patient care. Sandi creates an environment of trust, compassion, and mutual respect by engaging in professional and personal conversations with all staff. This also helps contribute to her being very approachable. I feel that I can go to her anytime with a question or concern. She truly listens and follows through when needed. One small example is that the nurses in the procedure room were fielding complaints from the doctors about an old EUS machine. We shared this with Sandi, and she tirelessly worked to get it approved in the budget. She kept us updated, let us know when it was approved and then ordered. Once it arrived, she made sure we all had adequate training with the new machine.
She encourages professional development by working with different reps to set up education for us on equipment and other GI Nursing topics. She also encouraged me to get my certification a few years ago. Without her support, I might not have bothered taking the test. I am grateful for her support since I learned a lot by taking the certification test. She motivates the staff by creating a positive environment where we all feel comfortable being ourselves and work together to care for patients. She has promoted team-building activities that everyone is welcome to join. We have done board and brush, bowling, trivia night, escape the room, and ax throwing. These outside work activities have helped us create strong relationships with each other which helps with teamwork.
She also encourages us to speak up for any safety concerns which she addresses immediately as needed. This makes us feel supported and helps us to continue to improve patient care. Sandi promotes the image of nursing by verbalizing to us when she is proud of the work we do. For example, we had an extremely busy day, where we all worked overtime and extremely hard throughout the day to take care of patients and get the cases done. She did a shout-out to us all during the huddle and sent us messages recognizing you to show us how proud she was of our hard work. She also encourages us to go to conferences and works with the schedule to make sure those interested can go when there is one.
***
On short-staffed days, you will find Sandi not in her office, but working alongside her staff, leading by example. This could mean working in a procedure room or in the post-operative area, with recovering patients. No task is too big or too small. Sandi's motto, “whatever it takes to take care of our patients, "A new staff member hired as a per diem RN had shown interest in learning how to assist in procedures. However, the role she was hired for did not call for assisting in procedures. Her role was to assess and recover patients. Sandi recognized the per diem nurses' burning desire to learn more endo skills. Sandi went on to set aside time so the per diem RN could fulfill her professional development.
Sandi has cultivated a non-punitive environment where the staff freely discuss safety events during the daily huddle. Over time, this has developed into a mutual respect and an environment of trust. Being able to freely discuss safety events and concerns, knowing we are supported, allows us to make the necessary changes to ensure patient safety. One ethical dilemma I can think of was that Sandi knew of an impending staffing issue. She spoke with the staff during the huddle, being transparent, so this situation could be discussed as a team. This led to the staff coming up with an agreed-upon solution. By being transparent, she received buy-in from the staff, and we volunteered to change our schedules around to meet the needs of the unit. Sandi is recognizing nurses with monthly prizes. She is awarding the team with the fastest procedural room turnaround time. This has created enthusiasm among the staff as we are all striving to beat the fastest time. This is also increasing patient and physician satisfaction as this leads to shorter wait times. She has also created an Escape the Room hospital-specific team-building game. This game reinforces CBMC policies and protocols while increasing team morale and patient safety.
Sandi actively seeks out social media to promote Colorectal awareness. There have been multiple videos of the staff speaking on the subject. This helps promote public awareness. Sandi recently completed her Master’s degree in Nursing leadership and management, demonstrating professional growth. She is encouraging others to follow in her footsteps. Sandi encourages her staff to continue their education by getting their degree and certification.
Sandi had two staff members recently leave the organization and return under her leadership. One nurse relocated out of state. The other nurse, Sandi, supported her to follow her dream of becoming a neuro/pulmonary nurse. Both nurses experienced poor leadership at their respective hospitals, only to return to CBMC under Sandi's transformational leadership.
***
Sandi is a very special leader. In this challenging and demanding role, she manages to listen to each and every member of the team, and make sure their voice is heard. Her kind and compassionate character creates a unique, warm atmosphere in our unit that even the patients feel. Sandi is a great listener, and there is no problem too little for her to solve. She is able to see and praise the strengths of each staff member. Through open communication, her office door is always open for concerns that staff members have. Sandi encourages the staff to speak up of any issues we encounter and then find a solution all together, that way everyone can contribute through creative problem solving. Tracking various quality indicators to always find ways to improve how our unit runs. I strongly believe Sandi is a wonderful leader and our unit would not be how it is today without her management skills and kindness.
Sandra fosters an environment where trust, compassion, and mutual respect are not just ideals but everyday practices. She actively supports continuous professional development, encouraging her team to pursue further education and certifications. Her ethical behavior and transparent communication build a foundation of trust, ensuring that every team member feels valued and respected. Sandra's leadership is characterized by her ability to motivate staff with a shared vision and enthusiasm. She communicates a clear and compelling vision for the future, aligning her team's goals with the broader mission of the organization. Her enthusiasm is contagious, driving her team to achieve better outcomes for themselves and their patients. Sandra's motivational skills are evident in the high morale and dedication of her staff. Sandra is a passionate advocate for the nursing profession, both within the organization and in the broader community. She actively participates in community outreach programs, promoting the importance of nursing and healthcare. Her efforts to enhance the image of nursing are reflected in her involvement in professional organizations and her commitment to mentoring the next generation of nurses. Sandra's dedication to the profession elevates the status of nursing and inspires others to follow in her footsteps.
Sandra is a great leader and team player in our unit, encourages team input, values our opinions in decision making for all aspects of clinical and managerial issues, and guides us to practice at the highest level of our capabilities.
***
Sandi demonstrates extraordinary behavior by being a hardworking, dedicated team player. She is a leader who listens to her colleagues and strives for the best in patient care. Sandi creates an environment of trust, compassion, and mutual respect by engaging in professional and personal conversations with all staff. This also helps contribute to her being very approachable. I feel that I can go to her anytime with a question or concern. She truly listens and follows through when needed. One small example is that the nurses in the procedure room were fielding complaints from the doctors about an old EUS machine. We shared this with Sandi, and she tirelessly worked to get it approved in the budget. She kept us updated, let us know when it was approved and then ordered. Once it arrived, she made sure we all had adequate training with the new machine.
She encourages professional development by working with different reps to set up education for us on equipment and other GI Nursing topics. She also encouraged me to get my certification a few years ago. Without her support, I might not have bothered taking the test. I am grateful for her support since I learned a lot by taking the certification test. She motivates the staff by creating a positive environment where we all feel comfortable being ourselves and work together to care for patients. She has promoted team-building activities that everyone is welcome to join. We have done board and brush, bowling, trivia night, escape the room, and ax throwing. These outside work activities have helped us create strong relationships with each other which helps with teamwork.
She also encourages us to speak up for any safety concerns which she addresses immediately as needed. This makes us feel supported and helps us to continue to improve patient care. Sandi promotes the image of nursing by verbalizing to us when she is proud of the work we do. For example, we had an extremely busy day, where we all worked overtime and extremely hard throughout the day to take care of patients and get the cases done. She did a shout-out to us all during the huddle and sent us messages recognizing you to show us how proud she was of our hard work. She also encourages us to go to conferences and works with the schedule to make sure those interested can go when there is one.
***
On short-staffed days, you will find Sandi not in her office, but working alongside her staff, leading by example. This could mean working in a procedure room or in the post-operative area, with recovering patients. No task is too big or too small. Sandi's motto, “whatever it takes to take care of our patients, "A new staff member hired as a per diem RN had shown interest in learning how to assist in procedures. However, the role she was hired for did not call for assisting in procedures. Her role was to assess and recover patients. Sandi recognized the per diem nurses' burning desire to learn more endo skills. Sandi went on to set aside time so the per diem RN could fulfill her professional development.
Sandi has cultivated a non-punitive environment where the staff freely discuss safety events during the daily huddle. Over time, this has developed into a mutual respect and an environment of trust. Being able to freely discuss safety events and concerns, knowing we are supported, allows us to make the necessary changes to ensure patient safety. One ethical dilemma I can think of was that Sandi knew of an impending staffing issue. She spoke with the staff during the huddle, being transparent, so this situation could be discussed as a team. This led to the staff coming up with an agreed-upon solution. By being transparent, she received buy-in from the staff, and we volunteered to change our schedules around to meet the needs of the unit. Sandi is recognizing nurses with monthly prizes. She is awarding the team with the fastest procedural room turnaround time. This has created enthusiasm among the staff as we are all striving to beat the fastest time. This is also increasing patient and physician satisfaction as this leads to shorter wait times. She has also created an Escape the Room hospital-specific team-building game. This game reinforces CBMC policies and protocols while increasing team morale and patient safety.
Sandi actively seeks out social media to promote Colorectal awareness. There have been multiple videos of the staff speaking on the subject. This helps promote public awareness. Sandi recently completed her Master’s degree in Nursing leadership and management, demonstrating professional growth. She is encouraging others to follow in her footsteps. Sandi encourages her staff to continue their education by getting their degree and certification.
Sandi had two staff members recently leave the organization and return under her leadership. One nurse relocated out of state. The other nurse, Sandi, supported her to follow her dream of becoming a neuro/pulmonary nurse. Both nurses experienced poor leadership at their respective hospitals, only to return to CBMC under Sandi's transformational leadership.
***
Sandi is a very special leader. In this challenging and demanding role, she manages to listen to each and every member of the team, and make sure their voice is heard. Her kind and compassionate character creates a unique, warm atmosphere in our unit that even the patients feel. Sandi is a great listener, and there is no problem too little for her to solve. She is able to see and praise the strengths of each staff member. Through open communication, her office door is always open for concerns that staff members have. Sandi encourages the staff to speak up of any issues we encounter and then find a solution all together, that way everyone can contribute through creative problem solving. Tracking various quality indicators to always find ways to improve how our unit runs. I strongly believe Sandi is a wonderful leader and our unit would not be how it is today without her management skills and kindness.