AN Nursing Award - We Need Your Input

9 One of the goals of allnurses.com has always been to elevate and recognize the importance of nursing as a profession. allnurses is in the process of creating a nursing award to honor nurses and students and the significant roles they play in the lives of the patients they care for and the communities in which they live and work.


As we develop the criteria for this award, we are trying to gather information about nursing awards that are already in existence. Who better to ask for help with this than our AN members....the best nurses out there!

You can help with project by answering these questions:

• What nursing/nursing student awards are you aware of?
• Which awards are your favorites and why?
• What do you think nurses/nursing students should be recognized for?

At my job nurses are often awarded with the daisy award. Here is the link below: DAISY Award �" DAISY FoundationWe also reward for: compassionate nurses, nurse innovators, and nurse leadership. Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but I hope it helps.

I know of the Daisy and AMSN has the Prism award, which goes to a department. Individual is the Daisy, as previously noted by the other poster.I do believe nurses should be recognized for the difference they make in the profession or place of employment. Those that give time doing committee work and or mentoring.

Quote from prnqdayAt my job nurses are often awarded with the daisy award. Here is the link below: DAISY Award �€” DAISY FoundationWe also reward for: compassionate nurses, nurse innovators, and nurse leadership. Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but I hope it helps.

Quote from tokmomI know of the Daisy and AMSN has the Prism award, which goes to a department. Individual is the Daisy, as previously noted by the other poster.I do believe nurses should be recognized for the difference they make in the profession or place of employment. Those that give time doing committee work and or mentoring.

Quote from tnbutterflyI have heard of the Daisy Award. Thanks for the link.Do you know what the criteria is for the second set of awards you mentioned.....the ones from your place of work?This information is exactly what we're looking for! Thanks.

Thanks for that additional information, prnqday!

In my company there is always some sort of award system going onThey are very generous

Most of the nursing awards I'm aware of here are rather elitist. The people who are nominated are generally part of the "in crowd" of the group making the awards (CARNA). By that I mean people who have sat on their committees, have made presentations at their meetings, have accessed financial aid for research or higher learning (think NP or PhD) and the vast majority of them have little or nothing to do with hands-on patient care. Winners almost exclusively have some ongoing relationship with the group. Last year my unit nominated one of our nurses for the award for clinical excellence. The letters in support of her nomination were eloquent and detailed. The care she provides to PICU patients is as good as it gets and she goes the extra mile every day. She's also an excellent mentor and teacher. She had no involvement with the group itself other than a legally-required membership. She didn't win. Someone who sat on a committee years ago who works in a community setting with adolescent psych patients and was nominated by someone in the CARNA sphere of influence did. It's like a good-ol'-boys network. I would like to see AN create awards that recognize excellence in mentoring relationships (formal or informal), excellence in provision of direct care, excellence in educating new nurses (as faculty or as preceptor) and excellence in administration as applied to maintaining units with low turnover, high morale, collaborative practice and high-quality care. I'd like to see the nominations and votes come from their peers, not from some self-serving group.

One important aspect that I believe should be taken into consideration should be privacy of any AN member chosen. Most AN members try to maintain at least some semblance of personal privacy on the site and would be distressed should winning an award potentially expose them any more than necessary. Even if you limit the naming of an award winner to their screen name, if you delve too deeply into their background bio, it will be easier to identify them.