DAISY Award
The DAISY Award is an international program that rewards and celebrates the extraordinary clinical skill and compassionate care given by nurses at the Miami VA Healthcare System everyday.
The DAISY Award | The DAISY Team Award | Nurse Leader Award | The Bee Award
These nurses consistently demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care. They are recognized as outstanding role models in our nursing community. These nurses' clinical skill and especially compassionate care exemplify the kind of nurse that patients, their families, and other staff recognize as an outstanding role model. They consistently demonstrate the Department of Veterans Affairs core values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence.
What is The DAISY Award?
The DAISY Foundation was established in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33, from complications of the auto-immune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP). During his eight-week hospital stay, his family was impressed by the care and compassion his nurses provided, not only to him but to everyone in the family. They created the DAISY Award, in Pat’s memory, to recognize the nurses making the big difference, in the lives of so many.
Our DAISY award honorees demonstrate VA's I CARE five core values: Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect and Excellence. They also demonstrate excellence through their clinical expertise and compassionate care.
Each nominee is a considered role model in our nursing community. Each recipient will receive a beautiful certificate, a DAISY award pin, and a hand-carved stone sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch”. There will also be an award ceremony in their work area; where the entire crew will celebrate with Cinnabon® cinnamon rolls — a favorite of Patrick’s. Whenever nurses smell that wonderful cinnamon aroma, the Barnes family hopes nurses will stop for a moment to think of how special they are.
Who may be nominated?
- RNs
- LPNs/LVNs
- Advanced Practice Nurses
Who may nominate a nurse?
- Patients
- Patient families
- Visitors
Recognition
Each DAISY award recipient is recognized with a framed certificate, DAISY pin and a hand-carved stone sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch.” Additionally, the recipient’s team receives cinnamon rolls – a favorite of Patrick’s during his illness.
Nominating a nurse
- Ask the nurse’s full name (you will need it when you fill-out the nomination form)
- Explain in detail why you want to nominate that nurse for the DAISY award and how the nurse models the “I CARE values”.
Nomination examples
"I was not feeling well one night. I called my doctor and he recommended I go to the VA Emergency Room. After evaluation, the ER MD thought I should be hospitalized. When I arrived on the medical floor, I told my nurse, Roxanne, “I do not want to stay, I’m feeling better, and I will go home in the morning.” I was using every excuse to leave the hospital. I did not want to share the real reason why I wanted to leave. Roxanne spent extra time with me and was able to convince me to stay for my treatment. She was kind, respectful, and very good at explaining my condition, treatment, and consequences, if I refused treatment. After my conversation with her, I decided to tell her the real reason of wanting to leave the hospital was to not miss my son’s graduation. She immediately told me I was not going to miss his graduation, and she was right. On the day of my son’s graduation, Roxanne facilitated a Skype arrangement and I was able to see my son on stage. Roxanne is my hero and I want to thank her for advocating for my care."
"When my husband was hospitalized, the doctor spoke with us about his diagnosis, but we did not understand what was going on. Steve was the nurse assigned to my husband’s care who knew I was worried. Steve took the time to thoroughly explain the diagnosis in a way that we understood. In addition to that, he explained the hospital process and resources available. Steve is a kind, respectful, committed nurse who advocates for his patients. He embraces the VA I CARE values. I am grateful to Steve for taking care of my husband and for being an extraordinary nurse."
NOMINATE A NURSE TODAY!
Help us celebrate our fantastic nurses. You can "Nominate a Nurse" and fill-out the online form. Once complete, click Submit.
The DAISY Team Award
The DAISY Team Award recognizes that while an idea to achieve better patient and family outcomes may start with one individual, it often takes an entire team to implement successfully. The DAISY Team Award is designed to honor collaboration by two or more people, led by a nurse, who identify and meet patient and/or patient family needs by going above and beyond the traditional role of Nursing.
- Teams include All services with nursing staff, In and outpatient units, Long Term Care, ED, OR, CBOCs
- Teams must be led by a nurse or group of nurses
- Teams must be comprised of 2 or more individuals
- Team members exemplify the ICARE Value (Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, Excellence) and embody our mission
- Team members are role models of collaboration and teamwork that make a difference in the lives of Veterans, families, employees, and the community
- The Team’s recognition/project should be described in detail, including outcomes.
Who may nominate a nurse?
- Patients
- Patient families
- Visitors
- All employees
NOMINATE A NURSING TEAM TODAY!
- Help us celebrate our fantastic nursing team. You can "Nominate a Team " and fill-out the online form. Once complete, click Submit.
Recognition
Each Nurse Leader award recipient is recognized with a framed certificate, DAISY pin and a hand-carved stone sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch.” Additionally, the recipient’s team receives cinnamon rolls – a favorite of Patrick’s during his illness.
The DAISY Nurse Leader Award
The DAISY Nurse Leader Award recognizes nurses who are extraordinary in the impact they have on compassionate patient care. Honorees can be any nurse leader who impacts patient care directly including supervisors, managers, educators or nurses who specialize in case management, informatics or patient flow.
This Nurse Leader impacts staff and/or the patient care they manage by:
- Role modeling extraordinary behavior
- Creating an environment where attributes of trust, compassion, mutual respect, continued professional development and ethical behavior are modeled and supported
- Motivating staff with a shared vision and enthusiasm to achieve better outcomes for themselves and for their patients
- Promoting and enhancing the image of nursing within the organization, the community and the profession
Who may be nominated?
- Assistant Nurse Managers
- Nurse Managers
- Nursing Directors
- Chief Nurses
- Nurse Executives
Who may nominate a Nurse Leader?
- Patients
- Patient families
- Visitors
- All employees
NOMINATE A Nurse Leader TODAY!
- Help us celebrate our fantastic Nurse Leader. You can "Nominate a Nurse Leader " and fill-out the online form. Once complete, click Submit.
The BEE Award
What is The BEE Award?
The BEE (Being Exceptional Everyday) award is a VA-sponsored program that recognizes and celebrates Nursing Service support staff who demonstrates excellence through their clinical skills and the extraordinary compassionate care they deliver everyday. Do you know a Nursing Assistant, Health Tech or a Surgical Tech who is extraordinary? Someone who demonstrates excellent clinical skills and compassionate care? Then we want to hear from you!
Who may be nominated?
- Nursing Assistants
- Health Techs
- Surgical Techs
Who may nominate a nursing service support staff?
- Medical Doctors
- Patients
- Patient families
- Staff
- Visitors
- Volunteers
The nominated Nursing Service support staff demonstrates Veteran Health Administration “I CARE” values on a consistent basis.
- Integrity
- Commitment
- Advocacy
- Respect
- Excellence
Recognition
Each BEE award recipient is recognized with a framed certificate, a BEE pin and a trophy engraved with the words “Being Exceptional Everyday”. Additionally, the recipient’s team receives muffins.
Spread the News!
How can you help with the nomination? If a patient, family member or visitor has an amazing story to tell about one of your co-worker and they want to show gratitude, tell them about the BEE award!
NOMINATE TODAY!
Click the button below to nominate an extraordinary nursing assistant, health technician or surgical technician for the BEE Award!
Once complete, submit the fillable pdf form save the document and attach the pdf document in the email to vhamiadaisyaward-beeaward@va.gov.
RESOURCES
- What is The DAISY Award
- About DAISY
- BEE Award for Nursing Support Staff
- Nominate a DAISY Team
- DAISY Nurse Leader Award
- The Daisy foundation
- About the Miami VA Medical Center
CONTACT
Bethania M. Delucien, DHS, MSN, RN
DAISY Award Coordinator
Bethania.Delucien@va.gov
305-575-7000 Ext. 13546
vhamiadaisyaward@va.gov