recognizes the impact nurses make on patients and their families every day. The program is and is thriving with nearly 4,000 healthcare facilities in all 50 states and 25 other countries. This guide showcases all the amazing ways DAISY reaches and celebrates those nurses. While featuring how DAISY recognizes nurses, we also are donating a portion of our Nurse.com revenue from this edition toward funding DAISY evidence-based practice and research projects that study cancer or autoimmune diseases. , which underscores this wonderful organization’s focus on promoting nursing excellence. With each grant ranging between $2,000 to $5,000 each, it’s the foundation’s way of giving back to further nursing science and we’re happy to contribute to their efforts. At Nurse.com, we have always valued education and have a that we developed over the past 25 years. Contributing to DAISY’s grant program helps us continue to support evidenced-based nursing education in a brand-new way.

DAISY Award nominations write themselves. At least that was my experience when I submitted this testimonial about Katie Livesay, a nurse who cared for my wife during her stay earlier this year at Jupiter Medical Center in Jupiter, Fla., for a surgical procedure: “Katie personifies the ideal nurse, a role model to which we have all aspired in our professional lives. Seemingly unremarkable, she somehow knew how to take care of my wife in an expert, reassuring way without being intrusive. I knew she was always around, but never overly visible, unless she was needed. "I have many dramatic stories that I could tell from my 40 years’ experience as a nurse in the media, but this is not one of them. Instead, this is a story of quiet competence, so rare. I can still see Katie’s unfaltering, infectious smile as she took care of my wife without a hint that she had other patients to care for. She made me smile. "Katie was a busy nurse, but I’m sure that had there been an emergency, Katie would have charged in on a white horse to do battle. Thank God that wasn’t necessary. I don’t think we do enough to honor nurses who exhibit excellent practice day to day without drama and fanfare. Here is a chance to rectify that. I hope she is assigned to me if I ever need hospitalization.” Katie received the award. But by having Katie as her nurse, my wife got an award too. When I asked Katie about what the DAISY Award meant to her as a nurse, her response was simply authentic:

“The significance of receiving the DAISY Award validated that my efforts were appreciated by my peers and my superiors. Especially in regard to the superiors, it is easy to feel as though in a typical day at work a nurse can never do enough, in the realms of patient care and immaculate charting, and still clock out at the appropriate time that doesn't burden the company's budget. "So, to receive recognition from Jupiter Medical Center, I felt as though in their eyes, despite the strain I feel many days, my work was not just satisfactory, but applaudable.  "On a personal note, ‘being a DAISY’ is something I will carry with me forever. It's a reminder of a standard that I have set for myself. I pray that in the Lord’s strength that is new and available every day, that standard of patient care will never be lowered, despite any stressful or overwhelming work situation I may find myself in.” So now there’s another standard that’s obvious to me: the one that Nurse.com and The DAISY Foundation will set through a spectacular, ongoing partnership that celebrates and supports all things nursing.