Select staff members at Santa Barbara’s Cottage Hospital recently became the fourth unit in California to receive the Beacon Award, a prestigious honor given to nursing units that exhibit excellence in the field.
This past Friday, the hospital announced that the American Association of Critical Care Nurses had presented the award to the nurses who work in both the Critical Care Unit and in the Intensive Care Unit at Cottage Hospital located at Pueblo on Bath Street. The AACN is the largest specialty-nursing organization in the world, representing over 400,000 nurses in the field who work with critically ill patients.
According to the AACN website, the Beacon Award is presented to nursing units that meet rigid criteria for excellence, high-quality standards and exceptional care of the patients, themselves and their families. The nurses at Cottage Hospital’s CCU and ICU received the Beacon Award for their exemplary care, leadership and dedication, the AACN website stated.
Since its inception in 2003, 78 nursing units have received the Beacon Award. The AACN is a nursing organization established in 1969, which serves to unite and educate nurses across the country. The Beacon Award was created to recognize the most successful CCUs and ICUs. It is presented twice a year.
Cottage Health System Vice President Herb Geary stated that patients in these units are among the most difficult to provide care for.