I have worked with this team as a physician on the overnight shifts for more than 10 years. This team, led by Tanika Jones, truly embodies the spirit of compassion, collaboration, and teamwork that the DAISY award seeks to recognize.

There are countless individuals or specific patient encounters that I could share, but I want to highlight the role of this nursing team in a specifically tragic situation. As an emergency department, we are there for the community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ready to help our community in some of their darkest times. With the UMC nurses, I have cared for many children in cardiac arrest at UMC. Each time, I am left in awe at not just the skill but the compassion of the Children’s National - UMC nurses.

A similar encounter at the Michigan Avenue campus would have 20 or more people in the room (including the ICU, anesthesia, social workers, interpreters, and NALs). At UMC, a team of 5 nurses, a respiratory therapist, and one physician manages both the child in crisis, while also remaining responsible for everyone else in the ED. The technical skills of these nurses are second to none. What I really want to highlight is the extraordinary compassion of these nurses in helping families navigate this horrific experience.

I have seen nurses huddled on the floor with distraught parents, running from triage with a baby handed over by police, cradling siblings while parents processed the unimaginable loss of a child, and helping elderly grandparents navigate autopsy forms at 3 am. Perhaps even more extraordinary, these nurses then pick themselves up and head right back into service, triaging the next patient.

With the imminent culture of the UMC ED, I wanted to be sure to take a moment to recognize this extraordinary team. They have touched countless lives of families in our community. I am a better doctor for having worked alongside them.