By Cindy Abole
Public Relations

When it comes to choosing a leader, many managers look for qualities that define character such as courage, self-discipline and humility.

These qualities easily describe 10West's Mike Sawin, R.N.

Such as several MUSC employees, Sawin's medical career involves dual roles. Full-time, he is the nurse manager in the university hospital's orthopaedic/trauma unit. His part-time job is as executive officer with the U.S. Army Reserve 7224th Medical Support Unit. To him, each role complements one another as it relates to leadership, job skills and work ethic.

"Working at MUSC has provided the perfect balance for me between serving as a nurse-officer in the Army Reserves and being a nurse manager and leader at this hospital."

Although Sawin's career began with the military, his career path to nursing and health care was not so direct. After studying computer science in college, Sawin felt unfulfilled and chose to follow the tradition of military service as had other members of his family. He enlisted in 1985 with the Pennsylvania National Guard and later served in the U.S. Army as an active duty soldier.

A defining moment came in 1996 while on assignment at an observation post in the Middle East. He assisted an Army captain-nurse in the treatment of a Bedouin man with a severe hand injury. After treating the man and evacuating him to a nearby hospital, Sawin realized that he just helped save a man's hand and that he felt great about it. The Army nurse responded with a challenge, "If you really want to make a difference, consider becoming a nurse."

Those words resonated with him. Four years later, Sawin completed his nursing degree specializing in critical care nursing. It also was during this time that he switched jobs with the National Guard to the Army Reserves as a combat medic, which according to Sawin, was more aligned with his career nursing goals. He relocated to Charleston in 2003 to work as an emergency room nurse at a local hospital, and later joined MUSC's hospital options pool in 2005. In February 2009, he was selected by current boss Nancy Tassin, R.N., Musculoskeletal Service Line administrator, to lead 10West's 43 employees.

According to Tassin, Sawin has been working with 10West staff responding to their needs and ensuring quality nursing care is provided to patients, especially those who've gone through traumatic events that often result in orthopaedic injuries. He's been able to apply his skills and demonstrate a level of leadership that allows his team more interaction and empowerment with unit decision-making in managing safety issues to doing peer interviewing for new hires. As one of Sawin's first acts as a manager, he established the 10West leadership council composed of nurses, patient care technicians and secretaries from the unit. The group can openly discuss topics, share ideas and resolve issues. Results have enhanced staff efficiency and improved patient care.

When Sawin was unexpectedly deployed in 2009, his supervisor and unit staff pulled together to keep things going. Unit nurse Karen Boyd was one of two people asked to help manage 10West's operations. "Mike is a great leader, a good listener and fair. It's evident that he puts his whole heart and soul in his work and genuinely cares about the welfare of everyone in our unit. All of us wanted him to come back safe and sound."

Tassin also shared the same admiration for Sawin's strengths and leadership ability.

"Mike's absence gave the unit a renewed sense of purpose. And the culture of this unit has changed dramatically since then."

Nurse manager Mike Sawin, center, and the 10West staff hold up the Excellence banner honoring the unit for achieving the highest patient satisfaction score for adult inpatient and adult emergency department.

Within the last year, 10West's patient satisfaction scores have been consistent and surpassed set goals. This past spring, the unit was recognized with the MUSC Excellence banner award for patient satisfaction. It also has achieved seven of 10 responses in the 75th percentile in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers Systems survey, which is this year's organizational goal, Tassin said.

According to Sawin, leadership is something that's taught at all levels in the Army and the military branches. He realized that early as an infantry squad leader.

"People's lives depended upon my decision making, assignments and the skills we brought to every situation in the battlefield. Leadership is leadership, and it can be taught to anyone with the right knowledge and training. These are much of the same values that are being taught through MUSC Excellence."

To Sawin, an Army Reserve captain, working at MUSC has provided him with a sense of balance, pride and accomplishment. "As a nurse-officer in the Army Reserves, I've found that my work as a civilian nurse manager enhances the skills I'm able to offer in the Army and in the same way my Army career skills help me become a better leader at MUSC."