After conferring with colleagues and different services here at West Palm Beach VAMC, the Operating Room nursing team could definitely say, Ms. Anna Liza Fernandez is the best nurse manager, worthy for the Secretary of the Veterans Affairs Nursing Excellence Award. She is an inspiration, an admirable leader, and a clinician who epitomizes nursing at its best. She displays a high degree of integrity, responsibility, and high proficiency in the surgical field. What makes her truly amazing is her ability to articulate nursing’s unique disciplinary contribution to the care of patients and how research and evidence based practice has molded the quality and safety of our teams’ patient care; a role model of the “ICARE”. She is also …show more content…
This is reflected in her excellent scholastic accomplishment – DNP at University of Miami (class 2017), MSN at Florida Atlantic University, VISN 8 CDL 2015 graduates, Lean Sigma Greenbelt, Board Certification in Healthcare Technology Specialist (CHTS), and Board Certification in Certification of Surgical Service Management (CSSM). This level of expertise has been shared to every community stakeholders as she actively participates in different professional organization. She serves as expert consultant for the National Acquisition Office (NAO) for three major projects, for the VISN 8 Standardization of Annual Competency (OR, PACU) Project, and for Competency Credentialing Institute (CCI) in building exam questions bank for the CSSM exam; sessions moderator in the AORN 2012-13 Expo, ambassador for OR Manager Conference 2014-15, and currently functions as one of the AORN Palm …show more content…
Her compassion also reflects on how she helps patients and families. Her busy schedule never stops her from taking care of patients, hold their hands, and provide additional support, guidance, or education. I noticed on several occasions in-between running the OR and working on on-going projects, her daily routine includes rounding to all OR rooms and rounding at the family waiting room - to appreciate the volunteers, to provide assistance to family members waiting for their family undergoing surgery, and to be an emphatic ear to anyone who seeks help. This same compassion is also evident in the operating room. She never fails to check the OR for late cases and sometimes even personally providing a break to staff before leaving at night. WPB VAMC have witnessed and recognized her heroic action when she leads and actively take part in saving a veteran’s life during a simultaneous emergency surgical case. Despite all the hectic work and pressure in the OR, Ms. Fernandez handles pressure with grace. She is a manger that never frowns. She is a ray of sunshine to everyone - patient, staff members, and every