UM Baltimore Washington Medical Center’s Critical Care Division Receives Gold Beacon Award for Excellence from American Association of Critical Care Nurses

The hospital’s critical care division is the first in Maryland to achieve this recognition for excellence in patient care and a healthy work environment.

GLEN BURNIE, Md. (July 17, 2024) – The Intensive and Intermediate Care units at the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC), together representing the hospital’s Critical Care Division, have received the Gold Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). The award is presented to inpatient care units that create a supportive work environment for nurses and provide the highest level of care to critically ill patients. 

A member of the University of Maryland Medical System, UM BWMC is the first hospital in Maryland to have its entire critical care division achieve this gold level recognition. UM BWMC’s two units join the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Medical Intensive Care Unit, which received a Silver Beacon Award in 2023. Only five hospitals in Maryland have received a Beacon Award. UM BWMC is the only hospital on the Maryland list to have more than one unit achieve the gold-level designation.

“We are honored to receive this award from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses as it showcases our nursing team’s relentless commitment to providing excellent patient care and creating a healthy and supportive work environment for our caregivers,” said Kathy McCollum, President and Chief Executive Officer of UM BWMC. “Our nurses earned this recognition by working together to provide safe, evidence-based care to our patients, their families and all those we serve.” 

To achieve the Beacon Award for Excellence, clinical care units must successfully improve patient outcomes and meet rigorous standards set by AACN that exemplify a healthy work environment. The strict criteria evaluates clinical units on leadership structures and systems; staff engagement; effective communication, knowledge management, learning and development; evidence-based practice and processes and outcome measurement. Units are also awarded one of three levels of designation – gold, silver, and bronze. The designation is good for three years.

“For nurses, a Beacon Award signals a positive work environment with greater collaboration between colleagues and leaders, higher morale, and lower turnover, said David Hunt, RN, MSN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at UM BWMC. “To earn gold for two units is a tremendous achievement and is a testament to UM BWMC’s nursing leadership team, as well as the exceptional nurses on our Intensive and Intermediate Care units.” 

“It takes great nurses and strong leadership to achieve this recognition, and I’m incredibly proud of how the team worked together to achieve this important milestone,” said Jean Jauregui, DNP, CRNP, Director of Nursing, Critical Care and Behavioral Health Services at UM BWMC. “The team came together to focus on the clinical aspect of the work and make sure we’re consistently providing evidence-based care to every patient.” 

UM BWMC’s nursing team was also recently redesignated as a Pathway to Excellence organization by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for creating an ideal nursing practice environment. Just over 200 hospitals worldwide have achieved this prestigious designation from ANCC. 

About the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center
The University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC) is a 307-bed medical center committed to improving the health outcomes of the communities it serves. A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), UM BWMC is located in Glen Burnie (Anne Arundel County) and has more than 3,100 team members and 1,000 medical providers on staff. The medical group provides primary and specialty care services to individuals throughout the region. Together with community providers and faculty from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, UM BWMC offers a wide range of clinical programs including cancer, critical care, emergency, heart, lung, neurosciences, orthopedics, pediatric, primary care, vascular, and women’s health. For more information, visit umbwmc.org.

About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high-quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.