A record 226 units from 161 hospitals have earned the esteemed Beacon Award for Excellence between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2018 from The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN).
AACN made the announcement in April, noting that in 2018 more units at more hospitals have been recognized than any prior year. They also awarded the highest number of gold-level Beacon awards since the program’s inception in 2003.
The Beacon Award for Excellence lauds hospital units that employ evidence-based practice to improve patient and family outcomes and has gold, silver and bronze levels of recognition. Hospital units that receive the awards, which last for three years, must exemplify excellence in professional practice, patient care and outcomes and demonstrate practices that align with AACN’s Healthy Work Environment standards.
Beacon-designated units also meet criteria in five categories that are consistent with other national awards, including Magnet® recognition, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the National Quality Forum’s Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality awards.
“AACN’s most recent survey of critical care nurses found that nurses who work in Beacon units (and in units in the process of obtaining Beacon recognition) reported healthier work environments, were more satisfied in their current positions, and were less likely to plan to leave the organization,” AACN President Lisa Riggs, MSN, APRN-BC, CCRN-K, said in a prepared statement.
· Gold-level awardees demonstrate staff-driven excellence in sustained unit performance and improved patient outcomes that exceed national benchmarks.
· Silver-level awardees demonstrate continual 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 all, 50 units received gold-level Beacon awards, the award’s highest distinction. Cleveland Clinic and Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor each had two units receive gold-level awards, said AACN. A total of 45 hospitals had multiple units honored with an award in 2018. View the full recipient list.
Units that receive the Beacon Award for Excellence will be celebrated during the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition (NTI) in Orlando, May 20-23 where more than 7,500 nurse attendees are expected.
