Alicia Maher Honored with Emergency Nursing Leadership Award Awards and Recognitions May 10, 2022 Alicia Maher was recently recognized by the Iowa Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) at the 28th Annual Iowa Emergency Nurses' Association Conference in Des Moines on April 28th. ENA Leadership Award Alicia Maher has worked in emergency medicine at Broadlawns Medical Center since March 2021, where she is currently a Charge Nurse in the Emergency Department. She was nominated for ENA’s Emergency Nursing Leadership Award by Nikki Blythe, Emergency Department Director. "Alicia has shown to be a true leader during hardship, high census, staffing challenges, and the overall chaos of the emergency department", says Nikki. The award recognizes an emergency department leader (including directors, managers, charge staff, mentors, etc.) who have made exemplary contributions to their department and/or the emergency nursing profession. A True Example of Leadership Alicia consistently maintains a positive attitude despite challenges that she faces every day as a charge nurse. She leads staff with grace while never allowing herself or her staff to get rattled during the most chaotic times in the Emergency Department. Alicia is someone that maintains calmness and positivity and this flows over to the staff she works beside. Nikki says Alicia's leadership shined through over the last year. "While every Emergency Department over the last year experienced challenges with everything COVID-19 related, including staffing challenges and high census, Alicia never backed down from the challenge. She was a huge support to me as the director and carried this over to the ED staff. Alicia was more than willing to go above and beyond for the team, be a support to new staff and agency, and truly lead the team in a positive direction." "Over the last couple of quarters in the ED when the census was high with patients boarding and facing staffing challenges, our patient satisfaction scores continued to rise with the most recent results at the 93rd percentile. Our entire ED team came together to achieve these results during these stressful times, and I couldn't be more proud of them. I think Alicia's leadership was vital to the increase in these scores as her ability to stay positive really reflects onto the entire team and I truly believe staff have learned her ability to stay calm and continue to deliver exceptional care", says Nikki. Cultivating a Positive Culture As a nurse herself, Nikki knows it's not always easy starting out. "In nursing we all know that the ED can be an exceptionally difficult place for new staff. We sometimes forget that we were all once there as well—with being new, but also hungry to learn. Alicia has been a true mentor to new staff while creating an environment for staff to feel safe asking questions as well as be supported. I count on her leadership to set an example to the other staff on how we should be supporting our new hires. I am certain her outlook on new nurses in the ED, and her ability to teach and be understanding, has also influenced the team greatly in a positive manner. When I say that I could not do my job without her, I truly mean that I could not have gotten through the last year without her support and leadership. Alicia truly is a leader in the emergency department and I am extremely fortunate to have her on our team. I cannot express enough how her support has made a difference to our team, our patients, and to me, personally." Congratulations, Alicia! We are so proud to have you on our Broadlawns Team!