DAISY Award—Camille Lugo

Camille Lugo
PACU Manager

Nominator: PACU Staff Developer Team

With great respect, we, the PACU Staff Developer Team, write to nominate Camille, Lugo, PACU manager for the DAISY award. As an exceptional leader, Camille consistently demonstrates a commitment to excellence in patient care and staff development. Camille embodies the essence of compassionate leadership, cultivating a culture of respect, collaboration and excellence within our team.

Camille fosters and environment where staff feel valued, respected and empowered. She takes pride in a long-standing celebration of staff contribution; for instance, Peri-Operative Week and Peri-Anesthesia Week, which are both unique to our settings. Camille seeks volunteers to form a sub-committee to celebrate and acknowledge the effort of the staff’s dedication and hard work. Recent celebrations kicked off with messages sent to the team thanking everyone for being fabulous team players and for the continuous deliver of the most dedicated care. Camille goes out of her way to organize recognition events and foster a culture of appreciation and gratitude within the unit. These actions signify how Camille values and respects the hard work of her staff and promotes a health work environment.

Camille cultivates a environment of open dialogue where every team member’s voice is heard and valued. She listens attentively to concerns, provides constructive feedback and encourages staff to share their ideas and concerns without fear or judgment. Camille has an open-door policy, where her office door is always open (when she is not in a meeting), and she is also available on Vocera, email and cellphone. Weekly, Camille will come to Tuesday huddles and send out emails to communicate with the four preop/PACU areas that she manages to keep staff informed and maintain clear, open lines of communication and collaboration to ensure the nest and safest practices are implemented. Moreover, Camille has a unique ability to remain calm and composed under pressure, a quality that has been particularly invaluable during emergencies and critical situations. Camille is always the first to step in, providing clear guidance and support, significantly enhancing the team’s ability to respond effectively and efficiently. This kind of leadership instills confidence and trust among the staff, knowing they have a reliable and competent leader to turn to. She has stepped in as charge nurse or transports patients when staffing is short, ensuring patient care does not suffer. Camille’s selflessness is evident in numerous ways.

Camille is a visionary leader who constantly seeks ways to improve our patient’s quality of care. She advocates for adopting evidence-based practices, optimizing care delivery processes and championing staffing development initiatives. An initiative that has significantly improved patient care is the management of urinary retention post-spinal anesthesia in ortho-joint patients. This project has substantially reduced complications of urinary retention related to post-spinal anesthesia. Another evidence-based practice Camille advocated and supported is optimizing perioperative throughput by implementing a nurse-driven pathway, an outcome aimed at improving perioperative throughput, patient satisfaction and staff autonomy. Camille is always at the forefront of driving positive changes.

Camille exemplifies the qualities of a transformational leader who gives more than she takes and always places the concerns of patient and staff above all else. Camille’s dedication, compassion and visionary leadership have profoundly impacted our department and the lives of countless patients and their families. Camille goes above and beyond in every aspect of her role. It is an honor to work under Camille’s guidance and we wholeheartedly believe that Camille deserves to be the recipient of the DAISY award.