Team Daisy Awards Celebrate Compassion and Extraordinary Care
ACE Unit and Center for Reconstructive Plastic Surgery receive honors
For providing exceptional care to patients and their families, two ChristianaCare teams — the Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) Unit and the Center for Reconstructive Plastic Surgery — have earned the DAISY Team Award for Extraordinary Nurses.
The DAISY Team Award recognizes teamwork and patient- and family-centered care that make a positive, measurable impact.
The international DAISY Award program honors skillful and compassionate nursing care. The Professional Nurse Council at ChristianaCare selects DAISY Award recipients using an anonymous selection process based on nominations from patients, families and all members of the ChristianaCare team. All nurses are eligible.
‘Angels on 6A’
The Christiana Hospital ACE unit is a team of 85 caregivers — informally known as “Angels on 6A” — who work to improve clinical outcomes in older patients by preventing complications and preserving functional ability. This interdisciplinary team conducts rounds and works together to improve continuity of care and communication with patients and families.
The unit was nominated by a patient’s daughter who was grateful for the extra care and attention shown to her family around the time of her mother’s death.
“These nurses went far and beyond their duties,” the daughter wrote. As the family struggled through the final moments of their loved one’s life, “they provided much caring and were compassionate, listened to us, left us in the room with Mom after she passed and offered words of encouragement.”
Their sadness at the loss of their loved one was softened by the love and excellence shown by the caregivers on the unit, who offered hugs and check-ins.
Giving hope and new life
The Center for Reconstructive Plastic Surgery (formerly the Center for Breast Reconstruction) at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute was nominated for a DAISY Team award by a patient who described the team as “the most compassionate, caring and emotionally supportive group I have ever encountered.”
In her nomination, the patient said that when she was diagnosed with cancer, she felt anxious, afraid and thought her life was over. She was devastated to find out she needed a mastectomy.
But those feelings changed after meeting Stephanie Caterson, M.D., and the staff at the Center for Reconstructive Plastic Surgery. The experience improved her outlook and also gave her hope and an appreciation for her new life.
“Everyone in her office made me feel so comfortable from start to finish,” the patient wrote.
