Beacon Award for Excellence lauds top hospital units that employ evidence-based practices to improve patient, family outcomes and align those practices with AACN’s Healthy Work Environment Standards
ALISO VIEJO, Calif. — Feb. 18, 2015 — The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recognizes 72 units from 60 hospitals nationwide that earned the Beacon Award for Excellence between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2014. (View recipient list.)
The Beacon Award for Excellence lauds hospital units that employ evidence-based practices to improve patient and family outcomes. The Beacon Award provides Gold, Silver and Bronze levels of recognition to hospital units that exemplify excellence in professional practice, patient care and outcomes. Recognition continues for three years.
Beacon-designated units meet criteria in five categories that are consistent with criteria for national awards, including Magnet Recognition, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and National Quality Healthcare Award. Units that receive the award demonstrate practices that align with AACN’s Healthy Work Environment Standards for optimal care.
Recipients of a Gold Beacon Award demonstrate staff-driven excellence in sustained unit performance and improved patient outcomes that exceed national benchmarks. Silver-level recipients demonstrate continuous learning and effective systems to achieve optimal patient care. Bronze-level awardees demonstrate success in developing, deploying and integrating unit-based performance criteria for optimal outcomes.
In 2014, VCU Medical Center, Richmond, Virginia, had three units that received Gold-level recognition, the Beacon Award’s highest distinction. With the addition of these units, VCU becomes the first hospital with eight Beacon-recognized units.
In all, 20 units received Gold Beacon Awards in 2014, including two units at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, La Mesa, California. Hospital units at the St. Mary’s campus of Mayo Clinic Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, received two Gold Beacon Awards and one Silver Beacon Award.
Five additional hospitals had multiple units honored with an award, demonstrating excellence in caring for high acuity and critically ill patients and their families.
AACN President Teri Lynn Kiss, RN, MS, MSSW, CNML, CMSRN, director of Medical Unit-2South and Case Management Services at Alaska-based Fairbanks Memorial Hospital (Banner Health), praises the exemplary efforts of the unit caregivers who achieved the Beacon Award for Excellence.
“The caregivers in these units are healthcare professionals committed to the best in patient care,” Kiss said. “The fact that 20 units achieved Gold status, and a total of 72 units met the stringent criteria for the Beacon Award for Excellence in the last year shows the commitment of the caregivers and their hospitals to work together to achieve evidence-based excellence in recruitment, retention, training and mentoring.”
AACN honors units that earn the Beacon Award for Excellence during the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition (NTI), the world’s largest educational conference and trade show for nurses who care for acutely and critically ill patients and their families. The next NTI takes place in San Diego, May 18-21, 2015 (with preconferences May 17).
About the Beacon Award for Excellence: Established in 2003, AACN’s award recognizes top U.S. hospital units that meet standards of excellence in recruitment and retention; education, training and mentoring; research and evidence-based practice; patient outcomes; leadership and organizational ethics; and creation of a healthy work environment. Award criteria — which measure systems, outcomes and environments against evidence-based national criteria for excellence — provide a mechanism to initiate patient safety efforts. To learn more about the award, visit www.aacn.org/beacon or call 800-899-2226.
About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: Founded in 1969 and based in Aliso Viejo, California, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. AACN joins together the interests of more than 500,000 acute and critical care nurses and claims more than 235 chapters worldwide. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
101 Columbia
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656-4109
Phone: (949) 362-2000
Fax: (949) 362-2020
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