NEWPORT NEWS-Riverside Health System announced that the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at Riverside Regional Medical Center (RRMC) has earned the Silver Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes daily. Units that achieve the three-year, three-level award with a gold, silver, or bronze designation meet national criteria consistent with the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the National Quality Healthcare Award.
“As a Level II trauma center and the Peninsula’s only comprehensive stroke center, RRMC offers all levels of medical, surgical, and specialty intensive care for those who are acutely or critically ill,” said Sadie Thurman, vice president and chief nursing officer for Riverside Regional Medical Center, in a prepared statement. “We know that our patients and community members hope they will never require surgical intensive care, but if so, the Beacon designation provides added assurance that their loved ones are in excellent hands with our critical care nursing team.”
The 18-bed unit assists patients with acute, life-threatening or potentially life-threatening surgical conditions such as trauma, complicated vascular surgeries, neurosurgery, neurointervention surgeries after a stroke, and cardiothoracic surgery. The division’s nursing team consists of more than 65 registered nurses who work at patients’ bedsides with the interdisciplinary surgical critical care team.
“We are honored to receive the silver distinction and be recognized for our efforts by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses,” said Chris Mitchell, Director of Critical Care Nursing and Riverside Regional Medical Center. “The Beacon Award for Excellence is a testament to our team’s commitment to providing safe, patient-centered, and evidence-based care for our patients and their families.”