Bayhealth Milford Memorial Emergency and Trauma Services Registered Nurse Eric Lehr has worked in healthcare for nearly eight years, all of which have been at Bayhealth. In that time Lehr has come to fully understand the importance of mentoring others. It’s his work with a novice nurse that led Lehr to receive the acclaimed DAISY Award, which is given by the DAISY Foundation to recognize the “unsung heroes” of the nursing profession.
Lehr was nominated by coworker Ruth Brown, RN. One day Brown was working with a critical patient who needed several high-risk medications and close observation. “Eric stayed with me the whole time and instructed me on how to give all of the medications properly. He assisted in placing a central line and chest tube, and stayed until not only the patient was stable but I could monitor the patient with confidence,” Brown said. “I still use the skills he taught me often and while many nurses have taught me a lot, the skills that he imparted to me in that particular situation still stick with me every time I walk through the door.”
Mentoring newer nurses is important to Lehr because he’s been in their shoes. Even when he transferred from Bayhealth Inpatient Rehabilitation in 2015 to Emergency and Trauma Services, Lehr needed help learning the ropes. “The department is a whole new, diverse entity,” Lehr said. “There are so many disease processes, procedures, medications, and treatment plans that new nurses have limited or no experience with. It’s important to make sure they know they have a support system to bounce questions off of, particularly in critical situations. It serves two purposes – helping a nurse’s knowledge grow and ensuring the patient’s needs are met.”
At the end of the day, making sure a patient is taken care of is what drives Lehr. “The patients are presenting on possibly the worst days of their lives and it is absolutely gratifying to be able to care for these individuals and attempt to help them heal,” Lehr said. And it’s the teamwork each person exudes in the department that helps make quality patient care possible. “Without the group we have – the providers, nurses, techs, unit clerks, and volunteers – it would be impossible to do what we do.”
DAISY Award honorees are chosen by nurses, administrators, peers, physicians, volunteers, patients, and family. If you know a Bayhealth nurse who deserves to be nominated, visit Bayhealth.org/Daisy and fill out the nomination form.
