Monday January 28, 2013 – Eight nurses at Cook County (Ill.) Health and Hospitals System facilities were recognized in the debut of the system’s Professional Registered Nurse Clinical Excellence Award Program. CCHHS plans to give the awards annually, according to a news release.

The first group of honorees included four nurses from John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in Chicago. Lena McDuffie, RN, received the award for med/surg nursing; Ofelia Estrada, RN, for maternal/child nursing; Cathy Rowell, RN, for procedural nursing; and Rafael Moralde, RN, for emergency nursing.

Two winners from the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center in Chicago were: Julia Lee, RN, honored for ambulatory nursing, and Deborah Wolen, RN, APN, for advanced practice nursing. Other winners were Josephine Gould, RN, of the Cook County Department of Public Heath, for public health nursing, and Gina Hatchett, RN, of the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, for correctional nursing.

According to the release, the awards are an effort to enhance the value of nursing, to raise awareness of exceptional nurses who work closest to patients, and to promote positive branding of the organizational environment and the patient experience.

They are designed to recognize outstanding clinical performance based on six criteria: relationships and caring; visionary care; innovation; advocacy; teamwork and collaboration; and clinical expertise.

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Source: Nurse.com