UCONN HEALTH’S LEAD ER NURSE ‘AN INCREDIBLE ROLE MODEL’
“It is beyond an honor,”
In her first four years as the nurse manager in the UConn John Dempsey Hospital Emergency Department, Eileen Scully had been figuring out the best way to handle the job’s challenges.
Then came a once-in-a-century public health crisis, and with it, the need for leadership in the midst of unprecedented chaos: rapidly changing protocols on personal protective equipment, biocontainment, patient admissions — the overall function of the emergency department.
“We had to create a whole new workflow for intubating in what’s called our decontamination room, where staff would go in with full
PPE,” Scully says. “We had two teams. One was inside taking care of that patient, intubating that patient, whereas on the outside, through walkie-talkie, we would get any added supplies that were needed.”
And there were plenty of times Scully was in full PPE herself, reprising her previous role as and ED staff nurse to help keep the patient volume from overwhelming the rest of the staff.
Scully was selected for a 2021 Nightingale Award for Nursing Excellence, due in large part to her leadership through COVID-19.
“Eileen will be remembered as an amazing, supportive nurse manager who led her team safely through one of the worst pandemics we have seen in our lifetime,” her nominators wrote. “She led them through safely and without harm. She has made an indelible impact on her department’s patients, physicians, providers, nurses and staff.”
Scully redirects the credit to the people around her. She notes there’s no such thing as a typical day in the emergency department, but the staff is always ready to handle whatever comes through the door.
“I do what I do because I love the job and I have a great group of leaders and great staff,” she says. “Every day we learn something new, we see something new, that’s what makes the whole ER staff love their job. The ER works great together as a team. I couldn’t do it without the nurses and medical assistants, the aides, our housekeeping crew, our lab, logistics, IT — they went above and beyond to make sure we had what we needed. There was never any, ‘Gee, I can’t help you out.’”
Scully had stints as a per-diem nurse before joining UConn Health’s ED as a staff nurse in 2008. She was promoted to assistant nurse manager in 2015.
“It is beyond an honor,” Scully says about being named a Nightingale nurse. “It’s a very highly respected award and I’m very happy that people felt that I was worthy of the award.”
Scully’s leadership extends to her involvement, whether it’s critical resuscitations, cleaning rooms to turn them over during busy times, or coming back in to work to help staff cope with a traumatizing incident during an overnight shift.
“More than any teaching or education, this is how you show leadership,” her nominators wrote. “She is so supportive of her nurses and clearly breeds a culture of excellence.”
UConn Health Chief Nursing Officer Caryl Ryan says, “Eileen’s staff adore her. They respect and appreciate her leadership style and work ethic. She is dedicated, focused and continues to support every staff member 24/7. She’s an incredible role model.”