Join us in congratulating nurse Meghan R., Intensive Care Center, who was recently honored with a DAISY! Organized nationally through the DAISY Foundation, the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses celebrates nurses’ compassionate, skillful care and dedication to patients and families.
Dawn Yeitrakis, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital’s chief nursing officer and vice president, and the team surprised Meghan on Dec. 12.
Meghan was nominated after she personally organized an Honor Walk ahead of a patient’s gift of life via organ donation. Meghan spoke with multiple nursing leaders to make this happen quickly, lining the hallways with appreciative staff as the patient was taken to the operating room. The result was a touching way to honor this individual and their family for this selfless gift.
Thank you, Meghan, for all you do. Congratulations!
What is The DAISY Award?
As Patrick’s family, we brainstormed what to do in his memory. We vividly recalled the skillful and compassionate care Patrick received from his nurses during his eight-week hospitalization.
We wanted to say “thank you” to nurses everywhere by establishing a recognition program, The DAISY Award For Extraordinary Nurses (The DAISY Award). Through this and other recognition programs, we honor the super-human work nurses do for patients and families every day.
In creating The DAISY Award, there were three elements we wanted to ensure our recognition program included:
- A partnership with healthcare organizations to provide on-going recognition of the clinical skill and especially the compassion nurses provide to patients and families all year long.
- Guided implementation and on-going support where DAISY provides most of the materials for the program.
- Flexibility so that The DAISY Award may be tailored to each hospital’s unique culture and values.
The DAISY Award Today
We never imagined when we created this program in 1999 that today, there would be over 5,400 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing in all 50 states and 33 other countries and territories, committed to honoring nurses with The DAISY Award. The strategic impact of the program on nurses and their organizations is deep, affecting nurses’ job satisfaction, retention, teamwork, pride, organizational culture, healthy work environment, and more.
Nurses are nominated by anyone in the organization – patients, family members, other nurses, physicians, other clinicians and staff – anyone who experiences or observes extraordinary compassionate care being provided by a nurse.
