Multiple Beacon Awards signify brilliant nursing at Christiana Care

The American Association of Critical Care Nurses’ Beacon Awards recognize excellence in evidence-based processes and systems that serve patients and families. A national honor, Beacon Awards celebrate the professional dedication that a nursing team demonstrates in going above and beyond to provide respectful, expert care.

Four patient care units at Christiana Care earned Beacon Awards in 2018: The Transitional Surgical Unit, Medical Intensive Care Unit, and The Lanny Edelsohn, M.D., Neuro Critical Care Unit each earned Silver, and the Cardiology Short Stay Unit earned Bronze.

Of the eight Beacon Award Winning patient care units currently in the state of Delaware, seven are at Christiana Care. The others at Christiana Care are the Transitional Medical Unit (Bronze), Cardiovascular Critical Care Complex (Gold), and the Surgical Critical Care Complex (Silver). Beacon Award designations are active for three years.

“The Beacon Award recognizes the highest levels of excellence in nursing care that is patient-centered, data-driven and evidence-based,” said Ric Cuming, Ed.D., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Christiana Care’s chief nurse executive. “This important national honor again demonstrates that we serve together at Christiana Care, guided by our values of excellence and love.”

Established in 2003,  the awards measure systems, outcomes and environments against evidence-based national criteria for excellence in patient safety and experience in categories consistent with Christiana Care’s other national honors including Magnet recognition for nursing excellence and the Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award.

Transitional Surgical Unit

“The Beacon stamp of Nursing Excellence is a humbling honor and one that reminds us of how we can inspire each other to continually strive for being great today and even better tomorrow,” said Nurse Manager Kristen C. Foulk, MSN, MS, RN, PCCN, NE-BC, of the Transitional Surgical Unit. “It is the team effort at all levels that is distinctive and calls on passion, enthusiasm, and commitment to help reach these acknowledgements of achievement.” (Cover photo)

Neuro Critical Care Unit

“NCCU’s achievement recognizes the outstanding work the team performs on a day-to-day basis to influence patient outcomes and to achieve an exceptional experience for patients and families through a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach,” said Danielle Weber, MSN, MS, RN-BC, NEA-BC, vice president, Patient Care Services. Weber said the unit’s new nurse manager, Lisa Halbert, BSN, RN, CCRN, played a key leadership role in earning the award.

Medical Intensive Care Unit

Medical Intensive Care in 2018 was redesignated as a Beacon unit with a Silver Award. MICU has been consistently among the Beacon Award winning units in Delaware since 2009 and won a Gold Award in 2016. MICU at Christiana Hospital is the only patient care unit in Delaware to win the Beacon Award four times.

Cardiology Short Stay Unit

The Cardiology Short Stay Unit received an AACN 2018 Bronze Beacon Award for demonstrating “excellent quality and patient experience in caring for patients with cardiac-related diagnoses through pathway-driven care, optimizing length of stay,”  according to Nurse Manager Christina DiMarco, FNP-BC, MSN, and Assistant Nurse Manager Lauren Duddy, BSN, RN, CEN, PCCN.

Photo gallery: Beacon Awards

Other Beacon Award winning patient care units with awards currently in effect at Christiana Care include: