Milwaukee VA nurse recognized with national DAISY award
A Milwaukee VA Medical Center nurse was nationally recognized with HealthImpact’s DAISY Nurse Leader Award in Advancing Compassionate Care in Policy.
Meghan Lorbiecki, the assistant nurse manager with the Milwaukee VA Medical Center’s acute mental health unit, received the award June 4 at the American Organization for Nursing Leadership National Advocacy Day Conference in Washington, D.C., for leading an interprofessional team to revamp the Milwaukee VA’s alcohol withdrawal symptom management policy while she was the clinical nurse leader on the unit.
“It was a big honor, and I’m very shocked,” Lorbiecki said. “I know the DAISY award is such a significant thing. It means a lot to me, and I’m very thankful I was nominated.”
The DAISY Award is a recognition program to celebrate and recognize nurses by collecting nominations from patients, families, and co-workers. In 2020, the DAISY Foundation partnered with HealthImpact to create an award to honor nurses whose work advances compassionate care in policy.
Lorbiecki began working at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center as the clinical nurse leader for acute mental health in January 2020. Even before that, nurses on the unit were questioning testing and treatment policies guided by the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment of Alcohol Scale Revised, one of the most common methods of assessing alcohol withdrawal. Lorbiecki was brought in to help review and revise the policy and assembled a team to assist, including a nurse scientist, pharmacy resident, psychiatrists and mental health registered nurses.
“We contacted other VAs, other local hospitals, and then we revised and updated the policy based on current best practices and standards,” Lorbiecki said.
Once the policy was revamped, it needed to be implemented in a way that would educate and build confidence in the nurses involved in the treatment. Lorbiecki partnered with Tina Smith, the Milwaukee VA’s simulation center program manager, to create an interactive, simulation-based escape room to teach the treatment protocols.
As more nurses went through the escape room, word spread about its innovation and effectiveness — so much so that High Reliability Organization program manager Lindsey Ladell asked Lorbiecki and Smith to submit it for the local HeRO award. The awards are given to outstanding projects and people who support the principles of High Reliability Organizations.
The escape room represented VISN 12 at the national level for the HeRO work, being proclaimed a national winner in the Clinical Team category in 2022. The escape room was also presented at multiple conferences and has since been adapted by the Veterans Health Administration’s Simulation Learning, Evaluation, Assessment and Research Network, a program that provides an ever-growing body of curricula and best practices that improve health care for our nation’s Veterans.
“I think it’s pretty amazing that something so small that started on 3C is now going all over the place with other VAs implementing the protocol and escape room,” Lorbiecki said. “It’s something I didn’t expect at all.”
When the policy was fully implemented, the mental health registered nurses bought in to the policy changes since they were a part of the process early on. The revised order set enhanced personalized care for Veterans and there were no adverse events documented at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center after the policy was in place.
Lorbiecki is most excited that the team’s work will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Addictions Nursing. She added that she wouldn’t have been able to produce such influential protocol and publish this work without the help and support of her team.
“It’s so important to network and make those connections to move your project forward and to help you in the future,” Lorbiecki said. “The policy and escape room wouldn’t be what it is today without the help of all involved, including the 3C nurses, Tina Smith, and Dr. Hagle, the nurse scientist at the time.”
Tandria Williams, the Milwaukee VA Medical Center’s associate director for patient care services, emphasized the same in Lorbiecki’s nomination letter.
“This entire project represents the extraordinary efforts of the Mental Health and Research Nursing Team in enhancing patient and staff safety and nursing practice through policy development,” Williams wrote.
Lorbiecki shared that her time and work at the Milwaukee VA is unlike anything she has experienced anywhere else.
“There’s just so much opportunity for growth, advancement and learning, something that’s so important,” she said. “It just amazes me how much there is here at the VA for you. If you want to do something new or tackle a project, the VA does everything possible to help you accomplish that goal. It’s a wonderful place to work if you are a lifelong learner and want to make a difference in the lives of Veterans.”