The 4A Acute Pulmonary Care Unit at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees received the prestigious AMSN PRISM Award, a relatively new honor recognizing excellence in nursing practice, leadership, and outcomes in hospital medical-surgical units across the country.
The award, which stands for “Premier Recognition In the Specialty of Med-Surg,” is the first of its kind honoring med-surg nursing units in the United States.
It is co-sponsored by the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) and the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB).
The award is given to outstanding acute care/med-surg units or adult/pediatric units classified as med-surg.
Officials representing AMSN and MSNCB presented the 4A Acute Pulmonary Care Unit with the AMSN PRISM award plaque during a ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees.
The achievement of this award by the 4A Acute Pulmonary Care Unit will also be announced at the AMSN Annual Convention; on the AMSN and MSNCB websites and social media sites; and in AMSN and MSNCB publications.
“We pride our profession, our unit, our staff, our patients and their families; it clearly shows,” said John Matsinger, DO, MBA, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Virtua. “Proudly, 4A Acute Pulmonary Care Unit has become a benchmark of exemplary practice.”
Hoping to inspire nurses to strive for the highest levels of patient safety and quality, AMSN and MSNCB launched the award in October 2012. The award also reflects the compassion, commitment and connection that characterize med-surg nurses.
Specifically, the award celebrates units that exhibit:
– Effective leadership
– Recruitment and retention of competent staff members
– Evidence-based practice
– Positive patient outcomes
– A healthy work environment
– Lifelong learning of unit staff members
There are more than 600,000 medical-surgical nurses practicing in the United States today, making them the single largest group of specialty nurses working in hospital settings, according to AMSN. Med-surg nurses oversee a broad spectrum of patient care responsibilities, another reason the acronym “PRISM” was chosen for the award.
The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN; www.amsn.org) is the only specialty nursing organization dedicated to medical-surgical nursing practice. Its mission is to promote excellence in medical-surgical nursing.
The Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB; www.msncb.org) is a professional organization whose mission is to validate excellence in medical-surgical nursing.
