DAISY Nurse Leader Award—Joleen Lonigan, M.S.N., R.N., N.E.-B.C., F.A.C.H.E.
Nurse Leader Award
Joleen Lonigan, M.S.N., R.N., N.E.-B.C., F.A.C.H.E.
Patent Care Services
Joleen is the embodiment of a servant leader who models extraordinary behavior and creates an environment of trust, compassion, and mutual respect. She is a champion of a multiple of initiatives to achieve better patient outcomes and inspires me with her professionalism, compassion, dedication, and boundless energy.
As a COVID unit weathering the inevitable surges of the pandemic, Joleen was right beside the Davis 14 staff every step of the way. She demonstrated extraordinary behavior by working tirelessly to support our unit, arriving for early morning safety huddles with staff and again late at night to provide reassurance and guidance. Joleen listened to staff concerns and escalated them to the command center, following up on requests for resources and suggestions to improve staff safety. As the nurse manager of this unit, I was able to rely on Joleen for support and direction. She listened without judgement, was always available to answer questions, and offered kindness and support when tensions were high. Joleen’s unwavering presence helped strengthen our unit, promoted collaboration and teamwork, and fostered an environment of mutual respect. Joleen always role models extraordinary behavior with her steadfast guidance; I can always count on her to respond quickly to all of my questions, to connect me to resources and to share experiences and problem-solving expertise.
Barbara Gumnor, East 6 nurse manager, praised Joleen for being an approachable leader, respectful, calm, non-judgmental, and for her attentiveness to nurse manager issues despite competing priorities. She shared that Joleen, “is an engaged leader, attending staff meetings, acknowledging employee concerns, and closing the loop on outstanding issues”. This nurse manager highlighted an incident involving the care of a particularly challenging patient on East 6, where Joleen role modeled extraordinary behavior with a focus on patient outcome. The mother of the patient berated staff, interfered with patient care, hindered her daughter’s recovery, and disrupted the workflow of the unit. Joleen stood by the nurse manager, navigated the family dynamics, and pulled in resources at the executive level to address the situation. Joleen’s involvement allowed the patient to ultimately make her own care decisions and progress to a safe discharge.
Siri Johnson, Davis 11 nurse manager, also shared a story of a positive outcome for a patient who would have “fallen through the cracks” if it had not been for Joleen’s involvement. The patient had been on Davis 11 for 6 months; he was belligerent, disruptive, threw objects at the staff, and refused to participate in his treatment plan. His refusal to work with physical therapy (PT) resulted in PT signing off on his care with a recommendation for a SNF. Due to his inappropriate behaviors, no SNF accepted him. However, there was the possibility that he could go home to live with his elderly mother if he regained physical functioning. Joleen intervened and supported the nurse manager who coordinated with lift team, nursing, and physical therapy. She supported the nurse manager to create a behavioral plan of care that included clear expectations tied to rewards, visits from the walk team, setting of physical therapy goals and recreational activities. This nurse manager shared that without Joleen’s intervention, “this patient would have lived on Davis 11”. Instead, the patient discharged home six weeks after implementation of the behavioral plan of care.
Another example when Joleen modeled extraordinary behavior and leadership was during the two COVID outbreaks on East 4. Darrell Desmond, East 4 nurse manager, shared that, “Joleen consistently showed up for the huddle and was an anchor on our unit with her calm and kindness”. Her presence on the unit helped to mitigate the overwhelming fear felt by the staff and guided them through this difficult time.
Joleen is also a champion of many hospital-wide initiatives to achieve better patient outcomes. She is an executive sponsor of the length of stay (LOS) reduction initiative which optimizes multidisciplinary collaboration and clinical practice to enhance patient satisfaction, create incremental bed capacity, and support care delivery enhancements and workforce investments. Patients benefit from this initiative as multidisciplinary huddles and care coordination occurs on units that specialize in their care. Barriers to discharge are identified early so that patients may be discharged when clinically appropriate, creating bed capacity to enable us to better serve the community.
Joleen’s leadership guides the Clinical Practice Council in their quality and safety improvement efforts, support of primary nursing and participation in shared decision-making. She champions our organization’s goal to improve the care for our older adults as the executive sponsor of Nurses Improving the Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) designation and led the development of new ligature and suicide risk workflows.
Joleen demonstrates compassionate behavior as she cares for our most vulnerable patients, advocating for those with mental health issues and upholding the rights of our homeless population. She has implemented interdisciplinary rounds outside of the huddle process to reduce systems barriers in the legal, compliance and funding arenas, by securing payer sources and offering ethical and administrative guidance for safe discharges. Cimarron Olson, Director of Case Management and Social Services, shared that Joleen, “leads efforts to transition care and encourages a balanced holistic view of the patient’s needs, ensuring patients receive the services and housing they need”.
Joleen reflects a positive image of nursing in the community as she advocates on behalf of our patients as they transition through the care continuum. Joleen has been integral in fostering a relationship with local skilled nursing facilities and the Sacramento Behavioral Health Hospital to secure new bed lease agreements so that our patients discharge to appropriate settings to receive optimal care.
Despite the fast-paced and sometimes chaotic environment in which we live today, Joleen finds the time to recognize birthdays, send supportive emails and hand-deliver personalized holiday goodies to all the nurses on her units. Joleen is a smart, honorable, and compassionate leader and is well-deserving of the Daisy Nurse Leader Award.