Maya has gone above and beyond as a teammate, coworker, mentor, nurse, and person. She has given her best from day one; she is a nurse of a year, and new nurses off of orientation are looking to her for guidance.  She sees the bigger picture of the unit as a whole and assists where needed. She knows who needs help and jumps in without question, without being asked, during emergencies and daily unit needs.

Maya displays all these characteristics while taking excellent care of her own patients. If I had friends or family in the hospital, I would want Maya caring for my loved ones. Her bedside manner, caring and attention to detail and efficiency, and time management are the work of a nurse 5 years in. Recently, we had a shift that required the charge and the resource to have patients of their own.  All but one nurse was off orientation for less than one shift.  The whole unit was very busy with call lights, heavy, high acuity patients, and q2 turns, fresh post-ops, fresh traumas, lines, drains, and high pain medication needs.

We had a rapid response at the beginning of the shift, and Maya was quickly at the bedside setting up EKG, taking blood sugar, and assisting T with her needs as the primary nurse while the RRT team was busy working. I think I can speak for the nurses who were down on the second pod in saying that we would have had a much more difficult shift without her. I personally could not have survived that shift without her help. She was acting as a second resource nurse without compromising the integrity of the care of her own patients.