IHI and DAISY Foundation™ Honor Nursing Professionals

Nurses from UC Davis Children’s Hospital, Swedish Edmonds hospital, and Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital to be recognized at IHI Patient Safety Congress 2021

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and the DAISY Foundation have announced the recipients of the 2021 DAISY Awards for Extraordinary Nurses in Patient Safety, presented in collaboration with IHI. Christa Bedford-Mu, MSN, RN, CNS, CCRN, C-ELBW, receives the individual award. Co-recipients of the team award include the ICU Nursing Team at Swedish Edmonds hospital and the Faith Community Nurses Team at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital.

The DAISY Awards will be conferred at the IHI Patient Safety Congress 2021, which brings together people who are passionate about ensuring safe, equitable care for all. Registration is now open for the virtual event, taking place May 11-13.

A signature program of the DAISY Foundation, the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses^® recognizes individual nurses and clinical teams throughout the year for their extraordinary, compassionate care. More than 4,700 health care facilities and nursing schools across the US and in 28 other countries participate every year. Nearly 90 nurses and nurse-led teams, first honored within their own organizations between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, were eligible for the 2021 DAISY Awards, which place special emphasis on efforts to improve workforce and patient safety.

“This year’s DAISY Award nominees possess the compassion, humility, and excellent clinical skill that we have seen from countless nursing professionals through this incredibly challenging pandemic,” said Patricia McGaffigan, RN, MS, CPPS, Vice President, IHI. “We are honored to celebrate the 2021 award winners and the contributions that they – and nurses worldwide – have made in the delivery of compassionate, safe, and person-centered care.”

Christa Bedford-Mu receives individual award

Individual award recipient, Christa Bedford-Mu is a clinical nurse specialist in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at UC Davis Children’s Hospital in Sacramento, California. She is being honored for her clinical improvement achievements and unwavering commitment to supporting and educating the families of infant patients.

A trained wound treatment associate, Ms. Bedford-Mu has collaborated with several surgical units across UC Davis Children’s Hospital to spread standardized approaches to multiple types of complex wounds and skin integrity issues. Her work, including implementation of a neonatal checklist, has contributed to significant reductions in post-operative complications, faster healing, and decreased risk of infection, which have led to reductions in lengths of stay and use of health care services. In addition, she has supported patient families with important post-discharge resources and the launch of a telehealth project to improve the NICU-to-home transition.

“Christa’s incredible dedication has helped infants and their families receive top-notch, innovative care and experience better outcomes,” said Toby Marsh, RN, MSA, MSN, FACHE, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing and Patient Care Services Officer, UC Davis Children’s Hospital. “Her consistent collaboration has ensured the highest quality, evidence-based care is implemented not only within UC Davis Children’s Hospital, but across UC Davis Health and other community hospitals.”

ICU Nursing Team at Swedish Edmonds hospital is co-recipient of team award

Co-recipient of the team award, the ICU Nursing Team at Swedish Edmonds, located in Edmonds, Washington, volunteered to be their hospital’s pandemic unit. Nurses in the 13-bed ICU modified their clinical practice to meet the needs of critical COVID-19 patients and their families. They sought out and tested improvement efforts that were then instituted throughout the Swedish system (the hospital system has five campuses located in the Puget Sound area), including process innovations that improved workforce safety and quality of care initiatives that lowered intubation rates, improved patient handoffs, and increased mobility.

Through 2019 and 2020, the team experienced zero harmful falls and no instances of catheter-associated urinary tract infections. In addition, in the last seven years, the ICU team has recorded only one case of a central-line associated bloodstream infection.

“Our ICU staff is an extraordinary group of professionals,” said Jennifer Culbertson, MSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Swedish Edmonds. “They stepped up and into the face of an unprecedented challenge, displaying leadership, professionalism, and a resolute commitment to delivering safe, high quality care. We are proud of their work and the positive impact they’ve had on patients and their families.”

Faith Community Nurses Team at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital is co-recipient of team award

Also receiving the team award, the Faith Community Nurses Team at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is being honored for its work with patients who have complex, chronic conditions. Through its Nurse Navigator program, the team helps patients develop and hone self-management skills that improve their health outcomes and quality of life. They assist in the coordination of patient care, interacting with providers and resources inside and outside the walls of their institution. They also focus upstream, educating high-risk communities about chronic disease prevention, including diabetes.

The team’s clinical and community-level efforts have contributed to a 77 percent reduction in 30-day hospital readmissions, 51 percent reduction in inpatient hospital admissions, and 28 percent reduction in length of stay when admitted to the hospital.

“The metrics achieved have been impressive, but it’s the patient stories that capture the exceptional and unique impact that this team has had on our community,” said Julie Swann MBA, MHA, BSN, R.N., NEA-BC, Vice President, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer, Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital. “From easing anxiety in a home-based, bed-bound individual to supporting a patient’s transition to a more positive living environment, this team has delivered kind service and exemplary care that has improved the lives of some of our most vulnerable patients.”

“As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, it is more important than ever to express our gratitude to nursing professionals for their compassionate, skillful, and courageous work,” said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, Co-Founder and CEO of the DAISY Foundation. “We are proud to partner with IHI in recognizing nursing’s contributions to health care safety and the meaningful difference that nurses make every day in the lives of patients and their families.”

These DAISY awards are supported by a generous grant from Hill-Rom, a global provider of clinical technology and patient safety solutions.

About the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent not-for-profit organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. For more than 25 years, IHI has used improvement science to advance and sustain better outcomes in health and health systems across the world. IHI brings awareness of safety and quality to millions, catalyzes learning and the systematic improvement of care, develops solutions to previously intractable challenges, and mobilizes health systems, communities, regions, and nations to reduce harm and deaths. IHI collaborates with a growing community to spark bold, inventive ways to improve the health of individuals and populations. IHI generates optimism, harvests fresh ideas, and supports anyone, anywhere who wants to profoundly change health and health care for the better. Learn more at ihi.org.

About the DAISY Foundation

The DAISY Foundation was created in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of complications of an auto-immune disease (hence the name, an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) Patrick received extraordinary care from his nurses, and his family felt compelled to express their profound gratitude for the compassion and skill nurses bring to patients and families every day. The DAISY Award celebrates nurses in over 4,700 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing around the world. For more information about The DAISY Award and the Foundation’s other recognition of nurses, faculty and students, visit http://www.daisyfoundation.org/.

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