Joseph Falise MSN, RN, CCRN, CSC

The Greater Miami Area Chapter (GMAC) is proud to congratulate one of their own Joseph Falise,MSN, RN, CCRN, CSC as the Member Highlight and for his accomplishment as an Elected Member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) Board of Directors.

Joseph Falise is the Nurse Manager for the CVICU, NICU, COVID Unit at the University of Miami Health System. He currently serves as a Board Liaison in GMAC and has held many hats as President, Treasurer, MTI Chair, etc. 

Advise to Nurses:

Joseph messages for all nurses is to Never forget the basic principle of nursing. 

One of the best quotes I’ve heard recently is “if it’s the right thing to do for the patient, it’s the right thing to do”.  Although simply stated, it offers a powerful message and provides clarity to how we need to navigate our increasingly complex profession. He mentioned standard practices that meet those requirements need to be hardwired into daily routines so nurses are allowed to practice what they are best at – caring for patients.  Primary care nurses need to feel empowered to “own” their practice and to aggressively seek solutions to challenges and remove barriers to doing so. 

What lessons have you learned from Covid-19:

As a nurse manager of a COVID unit, I’ve learned many lessons. Perhaps the most important is the tenacity and strength of the nursing profession. In a time when we knew so little about a virus that was making our own team sick and even dying, we continued to fight for our patients.  Through the fear and anxiety, our nurses showed amazing flexibility and high level engagement with new guidelines and protocols being published nearly every day and I learned a lot about the grit and determination of our nursing staff.

How does the new AACN Theme resonate with you:

I don’t think this year’s theme could have possibly been more meaningful in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.  The response from the nursing community, as well as the entire medical community in the US and around the globe has placed us all directly in the public spotlight and under close surveillance.  #ALL IN has been our quintessential message throughout the year and has been skillfully and strategically referenced in so much of what has been shown in the AACN community. I can’t imagine there’s an ICU or acute care nurse on the planet who has not been impacted by this theme.  This response has truly taken our ICU teams to the edge of the cliff, but we have weathered the storm so far - as a team.