HMC ICU Earns Beacon Award for Excellence

Hospital and Foundation leadership congratulate the ICE nursing staff for winning the Beacon Award for Excellence, a national recognition for intensive care until across the country. Hilo Medical Center courtesy photo.

Following a seven-month application period, Hilo Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit has proven its three-year progress, earning the Beacon Award for Excellence.

The award was announced by the American Association for Critical-Care Nurses.

HMC’s ICU has been recognized for employing evidence-based practices to improve patient outcomes and patient and staff satisfaction.

As a bronze-level awardee, HMC’s ICU demonstrated success in developing, deploying, and integrating unit-based performance criteria for optimal outcomes.

“Over the past three years, our ICU has worked hard toward its goal of integrating best practices to achieving a higher quality of care and patient satisfaction,” said Dan Brinkman, East Hawai’i Regional Chief Executive Officer of Hawai’i Health Systems Corporation. “This awards program is unique in the way it provides a road map and tools for our ICU to develop and further the improvement in care, outcomes, and patient satisfaction.”

Initiated by HMC staff, the application for the award began with a small group of nurses who worked together to gather data, answer the application’s questions, and put together the 52-page report of HMC’s ICU progress over the past three years.

The report and process underscored the value of excellence with recognition as a state and national leader in sepsis treatment, infection control, and patient safety. The AACN responded with a comprehensive feedback report to chart the journey as the unit works over the next three years to apply for the next silver-level.

“Certainly, our goal is to attain the gold-level of the Beacon Award,” said Arthur Sampaga Jr., HMC’s Chief Nursing Officer. “Our patients are already benefiting from our staff having engaged in the Beacon award program by applying significant changes to the unit workflow and processes.

“In addition, by participating in the Beacon award, our staff has been motivated to obtain their national certification in Critical-Care Nursing. Today, the majority of our ICU staff is certified and has a deeper understanding and competency of what it takes to care for our sickest patients. I congratulate our staff for assuming responsibility in achieving the goals they’re setting for themselves.”

Six representative from HMC’s ICU will attend the AACN National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition in New Orleans in May to receive the award.