CHOC Hospital Earns Silver Beacon Award for Exceptional Patient Care

For the first time, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has conferred a silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence upon the cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) at CHOC Hospital.

The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards. Units that achieve this three-year, three-level award with gold, silver or bronze designations meet national criteria consistent with Magnet Recognition, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the National Quality Healthcare Award.

“This award is further validation of the high concentration of expertise in our CVICU, where comprehensive, interdisciplinary care is delivered daily at the highest standards of patient safety and care,” says Melanie Patterson, CHOC Hospital’s vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer. “We are entrusted with caring for some of the sickest and most medically fragile patients, and our goal is to deliver the best possible outcomes for them and their families.”

CHOC’s CVICU joins the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) as Beacon awardees. In 2021, it earned the gold-level award for the fourth time 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; and outcome measurement. CHOC’s PICU was the first in the nation to receive the pediatric award.

The Beacon Award for Excellence was established in 2003 to offer a road map to help guide exceptional care through improved outcomes and greater overall patient satisfaction. Units in the U.S. or Canada where patients receive their principal nursing care after hospital admission qualify for this excellence award. Units that receive the Beacon Award for Excellence meet criteria in six categories: leadership structures and systems; appropriate staffing and staff engagement; effective communication, knowledge management, learning and development; evidence-based practice and processes; and outcome measurement. 

The AACN was founded in 1969 and based in Aliso Viejo, CA. It is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. AACN joins together the interests of more than 500,000 acute and critical care nurses and claims more than 235 chapters worldwide. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal.