SYDNEY CLEMENT

MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital

Sydney Clement, director of nursing for the Intensive Care Center at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, has served as a critical care nurse for 10 years, guided by compassion, integrity and dedication. She views nursing not as a job but as a calling, encountering community members during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives and prioritizing their physical well-being alongside their emotional safety and dignity. As a leader, she sets a positive example for colleagues by promoting teamwork, supporting professional growth and cultivating a culture centered on patient safety and respect, working to ensure patients feel heard and nurses feel empowered and valued.

Clement’s commitment to that mission is reflected in her capstone work for her master’s degree in nursing leadership and management. She has long been passionate about the ICU Liberation Bundle, a set of evidence-based practices that minimize sedation, prevent delirium, manage pain, encourage early mobility and emphasize patient- and family-centered care, all shown to improve long-term outcomes and reduce the risk of mortality and complications. Before the coronavirus pandemic, she personally championed these behaviors, once helping a mechanically ventilated patient stand on a scale for a daily weight and move to a recliner for morning activities. After serving as a bedside nurse throughout the pandemic, she recognized that her team had drifted from those principles and chose her capstone to address one essential piece: strong awakening and breathing trial practices that speed a patient’s transition off mechanical ventilation.

Leading an interdisciplinary team spanning respiratory therapy, critical care providers, nursing professional development and critical care nursing, Clement established a nurse-driven spontaneous awakening and breathing protocol. The project set a goal of raising compliance by 15% and ultimately increased it by 41%, doubling the unit’s overall compliance rate, while producing a customized electronic health record order, safe inclusion criteria, staff education and a standardized decision-making algorithm.

Clement counts her greatest accomplishment as the influence she has had on her unit’s culture through mentorship, having precepted many team members who now carry forward her values and pass them to the next generation of nurses.