DAISY Award
About the DAISY Award
Patrick Barnes, age 33, awoke to blood blisters in his mouth one morning in late 1999. The two-time survivor of Hodgkin’s Disease was quickly admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with the auto-immune disease Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). ITP is a rare auto-immune disease that affects the blood’s ability to clot normally. After eight weeks of fighting the disease in hospitals in Texas and Washington State, Patrick passed away, leaving behind his wife Tena, their 14-week-old daughter, his father, and stepmother.
During Pat’s hospital stays, the nurses delivered care that included kindness and compassion to both him as a patient and the family. The care he received in hospitals in Amarillo, Texas, and Seattle impressed Tena. She and Pat's family wanted to do something to thank the nurses who had provided such great care. A few days after Pat’s death, Tena came up with the acronym, DAISY, standing for Disease Attacking the Immune System. His family established the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses to recognize nurses in any and every nursing field.
Who can nominate a nurse?
Nurses are nominated by anyone in the organization who experiences or observes extraordinary compassionate care being provided by a nurse. Those who can nominate include:
- Patients
- Family members
- Other nurses
- Physicians
- Other clinicians and staff
The Healer’s Touch Sculpture for DAISY Honorees
Each Healer’s Touch sculpture is hand-carved by Shona Tribe artists from Zimbabwe each year. Shona healers are regarded as treasures by the ones they care for. This also describes exactly how the DAISY Foundation feels about nurses. The purchase of these sculptures by the foundation provides help to the artists and their families.
Why is the DAISY Award a great honor?
The award recognizes and celebrates nurses who provide extraordinary compassionate care to our patients and/or families. It honors tender acts of human compassion, delivered in the actions, words and touches of the nurse.
What does it mean to the nurse?
The DAISY Award being an international award specific for licensed and registered nurses, it is the epitome of a nursing reward and recognition. It gives the nurse the opportunity to stand out and be recognized for the incredible care they provide. Because it is an international award presented in more than 4,500 organizations, it is meaningful wherever a nurse goes. In addition, celebrating exceptional nurses demonstrates the organization's commitment to excellence in nursing care.
What does it mean to our patients?
Patients typically spend more time with a nurse than any other professional in healthcare settings combined. By providing patients and families a way to nominate a nurse who provided them with exceptional care, the DAISY Award gives them a powerful way to "voice" their appreciation of high-quality care and services provided by that nurse.
DAISY Award Honoree Ceremony
Each DAISY Award Honoree will be recognized at a public ceremony in her/his unit and will receive: a beautiful certificate, a DAISY Award pin, and a hand-carved stone sculpture entitled A Healer’s Touch. Additionally, everyone in the unit will celebrate with cinnamon rolls – a favorite of Patrick’s during his illness. The Barnes Family asks that whenever and wherever nurses smell that wonderful cinnamon aroma, they stop for a moment and think about how special they are.