Daisy Award

Nurses Professionalism

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Would you say that’s uncommon for a nurse who has been a nurse less than a year to get a Daisy Award?

2 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.

Not sure how common or uncommon it is.

I do not think that "# of years working as a nurse" is a good metric for measuring how deserving someone is to earn a Daisy Award. 

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

Meaningless award anyway

2 Votes
10 hours ago, hppygr8ful said:

Meaningless award anyway

Why is it meaningless?

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
10 hours ago, saraclark62 said:

Why is it meaningless?

Because it is an internal award and anywone can give one. I have seen many not so good nurses pander to patients family's actually suggesting a family member could give them a daisy award or whatever a facility calls it. It does not result in pay raise, better working conditions or a acclaim from management all of which would mean something.  Management will hand you an award one day and fire you the next without ceremony. I do give excellent customer service and my patients and families rarely have complaints about me but at the end of the day healthcare in the USA is a customer service industry. Any awards I receive I quickly move downstream to my staff who all work very hard. Awards on the wall are just something I have to dust.  

Hppy

PS If I sound cynical I'm really not but we shouldn't need these kind of awards to inspire us to more effective work ethics. Will te regard to the original Question I have known many nurse who have been working for years and never one one of these because they likely give shoddy customer service while a newer hire may just be truely conscientious and deserving of that award. 

4 Votes
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Never heard of a "Daisy Award". It just reminds me of Val Kilmer in Tombstone when he says "I'll be your daisy". (But he drew on the guy who was going to shoot him for saying that.)

1 Votes
Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Here's my response to the Daisy Award question ?

Dear Nurse Beth,

Would you say that’s uncommon for a nurse who has been a nurse less than a year to get a Daisy Award?

Dear Is it Uncommon,

Created in 1999, the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses  honors compassionate care provided by nurses caring for patients and family members. The website tells us that "DAISY Nurses are recognized for the acts of kindness and the sensitivity they demonstrate every day – the things that make a profound difference in a patient’s experience in healthcare". 

Those words have wonderful intention, and it's true that nurses make a profound difference in so many ways, every day, every shift.

But in actual practice, DAISY Awards are not always that meaningful.  They could be, they were intended to be, but there's a lack of measurable criteria that makes the process subjective.

Families and patients as well as anyone in the organization can nominate nurses for the award. Intended to recognize nurses who provide above-and-beyond compassionate care, it can instead recognize the most outgoing, bubbly nurse-who is not otherwise an excellent practitioner.

I recently saw a nomination for a nurse who let a Covid patient face time on her phone when visitors were restricted. Kind gestures in times of crisis can feel profoundly moving and I'm sure the family was very appreciative. But to to me that seems like something we all would do.

It also boils down to the ability of the writer in many cases. Eloquent and expressive writers have a better chance of their nominee winning.

Back to your question, a new nurse may be an appropriate candidate because it's based on perceived values such as compassion and excellence, and not on expertise. New nurses are less likely to be burned out than experienced nurses and from a patient point of view, it's very possible they felt the new nurse went above and beyond in delivering compassionate care or expressing compassion. So while I don't know exactly how common it is, I can definitely see it happening.

How does everyone else feel about the doughnuts as a prize for the winner's unit? Just curious ?

Best,

Nurse Beth

2 Votes
Specializes in Pediatrics.

Only certain types of patients/family members will nominate someone for a Daisy award.  You could be putting your all into some horrible patient with poor coping skills just because you know it is the right thing to do while your colleague with the easy, affable, appreciative, thoughtful and articulate patient in the next room does hardly anything but smile sweetly and gets nominated for making her patient's day, LOL.  As it is currently conferred it's a stupid award.  I would prefer nurses being able to nominate colleagues for it instead of relying on patients/families to do so. 

1 Votes
Specializes in Occupational Health.

It's a nice "pat on the back" kind of thing that makes one feel good and recognized but not a "major award" by any means.

1 Votes
Specializes in LTC.

What is that? I’ve never heard of such a thing.

Specializes in oncology.
On 8/22/2022 at 10:13 PM, Rogue1 said:

I would prefer nurses being able to nominate colleagues for it instead of relying on patients/families to do so. 

Umm no. That would soon develop into the 'colleague of the month' situation where they nominate each other so that each friend gets a 'colleague of the month' to put on their resume. 

Soon everyone in HR is nominating each other for the award because they live on what is on their resumes -- no joke, HR Associations give out more awards to each other than I have ever seen.

My first position was on a post surgical floor (in the late 70s, early 80,) We got more gifts of chocolate/candy because everyone thought we were the best ever...getting them out in under 2 weeks for a choley, appy, etc. The residents used to come to our unit because we received more treats than other units. Well, why not, we doted on the patients...followed orders to do  PROM, walk them 4 times a day, ever ready with pain meds. While I had  up to 12 patients (you read that right) many were in the stages where they didn't need us or we just checked in on them twice a shift. 

Interesting topic!

Several nurses on my unit have been nominated by their patients for Daisy Awards. In my opinion, all of them are excellent practitioners who have a history of giving "above and beyond" patient care. I am not sure why anyone would try to diminish the significance of this award program. Yes, there is a lot of unprofessional behavior between the staff in most hospitals. There are also quite a few "nurse-angels" (both male and female), who do their best to try to be positive and supportive in even the most trying situations.

I choose to celebrate all that is good in patient care. Congratulations on your award nomination. May you have many more positive experiences in your nursing career.

 

PS-Other staff members can and have nominated their co-workers for Daisy Awards. On my unit, however, most of the award nominations come from patients.

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