Grafton receives 2021 DAISY Nurse Leader Award

The DAISY Nurse Leader Award annually recognizes the incredible work that nurse leaders do every day. At Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital nurse leaders include Nurse Directors, Nursing Supervisors, Nurse Educators and Program Managers in the Department of Nursing. Recently, Director of Care Continuum Management James Grafton, MSN, MHA, RN, CCM, received BWFH’s 2021 DAISY Nurse Leader Award.

Grafton was nominated by Case Manager Maggie Kelly, BSN, RN, CCM, on behalf of his team.

In the nomination letter, Kelly wrote:

Through the journey of COVID-19, our manager Jim Grafton has been an exemplary leader. He is, and remains, innovative in meeting the needs of our patients and interdisciplinary team while quickly pivoting into changes in our day-to-day processes to meet the challenges of COVID-19. He always looks at best practice and does not let a pandemic slow him down. When COVID-19 struck, he was able to quickly gather information on the information systems that we had and still needed to successfully pivot case management into a hybrid routine. He involves his team and all stakeholders in the decision-making process. He consistently collaborates with his case managers to discuss goals and seek input to help meet changing needs of our patients and changing resources available to meet our patients’ needs. Jim walks the walk with us. He does not give us problems to solve alone but is there with us shaping solutions together. Jim’s famous phrase is that “We will figure it out” …and we do. We meet as a team every day. During this meeting, Jim keeps us abreast of what he is doing and we have a real-time opportunity to weigh in on his updates, discuss challenges we are facing that day and share advice with each other.

Jim does an amazing job representing the BWFH case management team in system-wide Mass General Brigham meetings. He brings forth projects on which we have been working. He is always open to giving his case managers the opportunity to try something out to test an idea, whether it is our idea or an idea from the system. He recognizes system issues that impact patient flow and revenue. He seeks resources and access to problem solving at a higher level. He is a great person to promote and share the BWFH case managers’ work and challenges because he is in touch daily with what we do. This openness has the potential to impact case management positively across the Mass General Brigham system. 

Jim encourages his case management team to advance their practice and has supported those in the department who have returned to school for advanced practice, master’s degrees or certification in case management. Certification in case management kind of caught fire in our department and many staff plan to or have become certified. Jim helps us accesses resources such as the nurse scientists to help shape a scholarly approach to our projects such as the Early Screening for Discharge Planning pilot.

He always shows concern not only toward our patients and co-workers but also to us as his direct team.  He encourages our self-care and is compassionate to struggles we have as healthcare workers. He is always available to his staff and pitches in to help when we are in need. Sometimes he is just available for us to vent and move on! Speaking on behalf of the BWFH case management team, we are fortunate to have a manager like Jim and would be so happy if he was recognized with the DAISY Nurse Leader Award.

For Grafton, being named the recipient of BWFH’s 2021 DAISY Nurse Leader Award was very meaningful. “I just want to do the right thing when I come into work each day. The last two years have been hard on everyone and I think we all just want to do our best for our colleagues and our patients. That’s why I was shocked when my colleagues presented me with the DAISY Nurse Leader Award,” he says. “It means so much that my team nominated me. My role is to help them feel supported and appreciated, and optimistic about the future. To know that they think I am successful in that role means the world to me.”

To learn more about the DAISY Nurse Leader Award, click here.