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American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Recognizes White Plains Hospital With Gold Beacon Award for Excellence

May 11, 2021

White Plains, NY – The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) today announced that the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) at White Plains Hospital have been awarded a Gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence.

The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards. The recognition signifies an effective and systematic approach to policies, procedures and processes that include engagement of staff and key stakeholders; fact-based evaluation strategies for continuous process improvement; and performance measures that meet or exceed relevant benchmarks. The ICU and CCU at White Plains Hospital earned a Gold award by meeting the following evidence-based criteria:

  • Leadership Structures and Systems
  • Appropriate Staffing and Staff Engagement
  • Effective Communication, Knowledge Management, and Learning and Development
  • Evidence-Based Practice and Processes
  • Outcome Measurement

AACN President Elizabeth Bridges, PhD, RN, CCNS, FCCM, FAAN, applauds the commitment of the caregivers in the ICU and CCU at White Plains Hospital for working together to meet and exceed the high standards set forth by the Beacon Award for Excellence.

“Receiving a Beacon Award for Excellence demonstrates a team’s commitment to providing safe, patient-centered and evidence-based care to patients and families. Creating healthy and supportive work environments empowers nurses and other team members to make their optimal contribution,” Bridges explained. “Achieving this award is such an honor and brings such joy to those who have worked so hard to achieve excellence in patient care and positive patient outcomes,” Bridges added.

About the Beacon Award for Excellence

Established in 2003, the Beacon Award for Excellence offers a road map to help guide exceptional care through improved outcomes and greater overall patient satisfaction. U.S. and Canadian units where patients receive their principal nursing care after hospital admission qualify for this excellence award. Units that receive the Beacon Award for Excellence meet criteria in six categories: leadership structures and systems; appropriate staffing and staff engagement; effective communication, knowledge management, and learning and development; evidence-based practice and processes; and outcome measurement. To learn more, visit www.aacn.org/beacon or call (800) 899-2226.

About White Plains Hospital 

White Plains Hospital is a proud member of the Montefiore Health System, serving as its tertiary hub of advanced care in the Hudson Valley. The Hospital is a 292-bed not-for-profit health care organization with the primary mission of providing exceptional acute and preventive medical care to all people who live in, work in or visit Westchester County and its surrounding areas. Centers of Excellence include the Center for Cancer CareThe William & Sylvia Silberstein Neonatal & Maternity Center and The Ruth and Jerome A. Siegel Stroke Center. The Hospital’s Flanzer Emergency Department is the busiest in Westchester County, with more than 64,000 patient visits a year. White Plains Hospital performs lifesaving emergency and elective angioplasty in its Joan and Alan Herfort, MD, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Marie Promuto Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. White Plains Hospital has outpatient medical facilities across Westchester, including multispecialty practices in Armonk, New Rochelle, Somers and Yorktown Heights; and Scarsdale Medical Group locations in Harrison and Scarsdale.

The Hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission and earned its recognition as a Top Performer for Key Quality Measures® in 2015 and 2013. The Hospital received Magnet® designation in 2012 and 2016 from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The Hospital earned a three-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC), one of 16 hospitals in the nation, and the Hospital's Bariatric Surgical Center is accredited as a Comprehensive Center under the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP). White Plains Hospital has also received full accreditation for its breast cancer program from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) and The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) recognized White Plains Hospital as a top 10% performing hospital for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2019. In 2020, White Plains Hospital received the Outstanding Patient Experience Award from Healthgrades® for the fifth time and, was once again named Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News & World Report. https://www.wphospital.org/about/affiliations-accreditations-awards
https://www.wphospital.org/.

About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses

Founded in 1969 and based in Aliso Viejo, California, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. AACN represents the interests of more than half a million acute and critical care nurses and includes more than 200 chapters in the United States. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. To learn more about AACN, visit www.aacn.org, connect with the organization on Facebook at www.facebook.com/aacnface or follow AACN on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aacnme.