Contact:
Jason Merrill
314-286-0302
[email protected]

January 11, 2010, ST. LOUIS - Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s cardiothoracic intensive care unit (56ICU) has received the prestigious Beacon Award from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). The unit is the first in Missouri to be honored with the award. Only 188 critical care units out of 6,000 in the United States have received the award.

The award recognizes critical care excellence, commitment to high-quality critical care standards, and dedication to the exceptional care of patients and their families.

As a Beacon Award recipient, 56ICU succeeded in the following areas, as measured against evidence-based national criteria: recruitment and retention; education, training and mentoring; research and evidence-based practice; patient outcomes; leadership and organizational ethics; and healing environment.

“As a unit, we’re thrilled to be recognized with this distinction. It’s also a reflection on the hospital as a whole. Without the framework and support of many throughout the hospital, such as the Center for Practice Excellence, wound/ostomy and recruiting, this wouldn’t be possible,” says Elaine Thomas-Horton, clinical nurse manager of 56ICU.

Ann Petlin, RN, clinical nurse specialist, and Myra Suntrup, RN, lead charge nurse for 56ICU, submitted the documentation for the unit. “The lengthy application underwent rigorous review to ensure that we met or exceeded the expectations of the AACN. I helped with the hospital’s recent Magnet submittal and this was similar to that on a smaller scale,” says Petlin.

Units are required to demonstrate each criterion with detailed evidence. Some of the specifics of the submittal included:

• Recruitment and retention
– The unit implemented an active “Employee of the Month” program in which staff nominate their peers for providing outstanding service.
– Nurses who already work on 56ICU recruited 80 percent of recent hires.

• Education, training and mentoring
– Education on the unit begins with orientation and continues with advanced cardiothoracic topics, such as the evolving field of implantable ventricular assist devices. The unit also is growing the number of staff nurses recognized for certification in critical care nursing.

• Evidence-based practice
– An increasing number of nurses on the unit have learned the methods of evidence-based practice, and are applying these methods to bathing with chlorhexidine gluconate to reduce skin bacteria, assessing for ICU-related delirium, and a new study to address sleep hygiene in the ICU.

• Patient outcomes
– 56ICU participates in the national database sponsored by the Society of Critical Care Medicine. The unit meets or exceeds the desired standards for the outcome measures of unplanned extubations from mechanical ventilation, catheter-related urinary tract infections, central-line related blood stream infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia and pressure ulcers.

• Healing environment
– The interdisciplinary team contributes to the healing environment by drawing upon the talents of its diverse professional staff. The unit also has the luxury of being the newest ICU at the hospital.
Staff nurses were involved in the design of the unit. Large patient rooms with abundant daylight with room for patients’ families helps to promote a healing environment.

• Leadership and organizational ethics
– More than 90 percent of the unit’s leadership staff were selected by the staff on the unit. The unit-based chaplain and social worker help to ensure that the unit considers all aspects of each patient’s care.

Suntrup credits the entire unit, including ancillary staff, with winning the award. “I’d especially like to give Elaine credit for recognizing that we were, and are, a Beacon unit,” Suntrup says.