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A medical-surgical nursing unit at Virtua Voorhees hospital has received the prestigious AMSN PRISM Award®, an honor recognizing exceptional nursing practice, leadership, and outcomes in hospital medical-surgical units.
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 and internationally. 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.
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Officials representing AMSN and MSNCB presented the Virtua Voorhees team with the AMSN PRISM Award plaque during a recent ceremony at the hospital. The achievement of this award by Virtua Voorhees will also be announced on the AMSN and MSNCB websites, on social media sites, and in AMSN and MSNCB publications.
“I’m very proud of our nurses for achieving this distinguished award,” said Dennis Pullin, President and CEO of Virtua. “This medical-surgical unit is a great example of the excellent nursing care provided throughout our organization. They deliver patient-centered care tirelessly, day in and day out.”
Pullin is pictured above (far left) with medical-surgical nursing team 7A at Virtua Voorhees hospital accepting the AMSN PRISM Award for Exemplary Practice. Also pictured is Tracy Carlino (far right), Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Virtua.
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The PRISM award is based on a rigorous review process, noted Tracy Carlino, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Virtua: “This award takes a thorough look at all aspects of a unit, not just nursing care. It considers evidenced-base care, the leadership of the unit, and many other aspects of quality. ”
This is the third Virtua nursing unit to receive a PRISM award, Carlino noted. Past recipients are a team at Virtua Marlton hospital and another unit at Virtua Voorhees.
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 practice 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.
For more information about AMSN and the AMSN PRISM Award, visit amsn.org or contact the association at amsn-info@amsn.org or 866-877-AMSN.
For more information about Virtua Voorhees, visit www.virtua.org or call (888) 847-8823.
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.
About Virtua
As one of New Jersey’s largest, non-profit health systems, Virtua provides comprehensive health care services to achieve its mission to help people be well, get well and stay well. Virtua provides services through Virtua Medical Group with 500 physicians and other clinicians, and at its urgent care centers, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, health and wellness centers, fitness centers, home health services, long-term care and rehabilitation centers, and paramedic program.
A leader in maternal and child health services, Virtua delivers nearly 8,000 babies a year. It provides health services to 1,500 businesses, and participates in Virtua Physician Partners, a clinically integrated network of 1,000 physicians and other clinicians. Virtua is affiliated with Penn Medicine for cancer and neuroscience and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for pediatrics. It employs over 9,000 and has been honored as the #1 Best Place to Work in the Delaware Valley many times since 2007.
It is the recipient of a 4-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for quality of care, and its hospitals earned straight A’s in patient safety by The Leapfrog Group and the 2016 Patient Safety Award from Healthgrades. U.S. News and World Report ranked Virtua’s Mount Holly and Voorhees hospitals as High Performing Hospitals and Voorhees as a Best Regional Hospital. Virtua is also the recipient of the Consumer Choice Award from the National Research Corporation.
For more information, visit www.virtua.org or www.virtuabroadcastnetwork.org.