The cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) at St. Peter’s Hospital, an affiliate of St. Peter’s Health Partners (SPHP), has received a gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN).
The Beacon Award for Excellence — a significant milestone on the path to exceptional patient care and healthy work environments — recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards.
The eight-bed CVICU at St. Peter’s Hospital provides interventions to cardiac and vascular surgery patients. The unit uses a focused-care model and serves patients requiring intensive care immediately after surgery. The unit’s new gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence builds upon the silver-level award it earned in 2015.
“We are so proud of our colleagues on the CVICU team at St. Peter’s Hospital, and congratulate them for this outstanding achievement of receiving a gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence,” said Mike Finegan, president of Acute Care at SPHP. “The team provides compassionate, sophisticated, and high-quality care, and this recognition from the AACN reinforces what we hear from patients every day: our nurses make a profoundly positive impact in the lives of those we serve.”
AACN President Clareen Wiencek, RN, PhD, ACNP, ACHPN, applauded the commitment of the caregivers in the CVICU at St. Peter’s Hospital for working together to meet and exceed the high standards set forth by the Beacon Award for Excellence.
“The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes caregivers in stellar units whose consistent and systematic approach to evidence-based care optimizes patient outcomes,” Wiencek said. Units that receive this national recognition serve as role models to others on their journey to excellent patient and family care.”
The gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence earned by the CVICU at St. Peter’s Hospital signifies excellent and sustained unit performance and patient outcomes. The CVICU at St. Peter’s Hospital earned a gold award by meeting the following evidence-based Beacon Award for Excellence criteria:
- Leadership Structures and Systems
- Appropriate Staffing and Staff Engagement
- Effective Communication, Knowledge Management, Learning and Development
- Evidence-Based Practice and Processes
- Outcome Measurement
AACN will honor the CVICU at St. Peter’s Hospital and other Beacon Award for Excellence recipients with announcements in AACN Bold Voices, the monthly award-winning member magazine distributed to more than 100,000 acute and critical care nurses nationwide. AACN also honors awardees at 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.
For more information about the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and Beacon Award for Excellence, visit www.aacn.org/beacon.
