Integrity- Tera's trust towards her unit is the reason this lab is so successful. It is easy for managers to want to micromanage the way their employees do things. Tera is not that type of manager. She sets an expectation and standard that nurses need to know. She expects her staff to perform their roles truthfully and to the best of their abilities. When nurses deviate from these expectations, she gently reminds them of what the right thing is and coaches them to be successful. She sets and follows these expectations for herself as well. As an employee for Tera, seeing her follow her expectations makes it easier for the staff to do the same as well.

Commitment: Tera is committed to making sure the veteran gets the care that they need. On multiple occasions, I’ve witnessed her be in the middle of work and her phone rings with a patient on the other end of the line. She immediately stops what she is doing and prioritizes the patient’s needs. She makes sure all of their questions and concerns have been answered before ending their conversation. This is how she is with her staff as well. Putting the needs of her staff before herself. She understands that the patients and staff need to come above all else. 

Advocacy- Tera is a true example of how leaders should represent their staff. When their staff bring up any patient, staff or procedural issues, she finds solutions to their concerns. There are situations when issues may not be able to be resolved immediately, and Tera will work with the staff on finding temporary solutions until more permanent fixes are able to be adopted. Everyone on the unit knows they can rely on Tera with any concerns that may arise and isn’t afraid to bring them to her attention.

Respect- Tera is not just a manager, but a leader on our unit. Tera displays leadership by treating her employees as equals, respecting their needs, making time for them, and advocating for their needs. On frequent occasions, employees have had to take time off for personal reasons. Tera always checks up on them to make sure they are doing ok and that their needs are taken care of. Tera's respect towards her co-workers is the reason the unit has so much respect for her and her position as a manager.

Excellence- Tera strives to perform all her duties to the best of her abilities. As the recently appointed manager of the unit, there were concerns regarding the SOP of frequency of IV removals for the inpatient population. Tera has been working in the department for over 15 years and has not done bedside nursing since she was an ED nurse. But she saw the problem that was presented to her and was willing to work toward a solution. Through the EBP research, collaboration of her inpatient and outpatient colleagues, she was successfully able to present and implement the change in SOP for IV exchange frequency. It went from changing IV’s every 72 hours to as clinically indicated, helping our longer stay Veteran population avoid frequent poking of their veins if they do not need it.