Vanderbilt University Hospital

The 28,000-square-foot pulmonary stepdown unit is the first of six inpatient floors in the new building that rises above 21st Avenue on the Vanderbilt Health Main Campus in Nashville.

Samantha Murphy, RN, works in the Medical Intensive Care unit at Vanderbilt University Hospital. She is one of the latest Vanderbilt Health DAISY Award winners.

The resulting space brings new capabilities to as many as 80 staff members operating in and out of the kitchen for every meal.

“He deserves the highest recognition for his endless effort, dedication and thoughtful approach to the care of his patients.”

There are an estimated 166,000 patients with spina bifida in the US and over 50 percent of them are becoming adults. Spina bifida occurs among 1 in every 2,875 births in the US each year, according to the CDC. There are only 25 clinics in the nation solely dedicated to the care of adult patients with spina bifida.

At Vanderbilt University Hospital, a Level 1 trauma center, ED arrival volumes have increased 8% over last year. In response, there's a newly developed rapid follow-up program for patients who can be referred safely to outpatient clinics for evaluation and treatment. 

On a given day, the Vanderbilt Trauma Center may admit multiple gunshot and motor vehicle accident victims. For 27 years, across nearly 100,000 admissions, the Trauma Center’s physicians, nurses and staff have been treating patients arriving from a region covering 80,000 square miles.