The DAISY Nurse Award: Overview and FAQ
What does excellence in nursing mean to you? For many healthcare and nurse leaders, metrics like infection rates and surgery outcomes are quality markers for the care you deliver. But how do you quantify the small, intangible acts of kindness that make a big difference in a patient’s stay?
When a nurse goes the extra mile to deliver compassionate patient care, don’t let it go unnoticed. Recognize nurses for their hard work and attention to details by presenting them with the DAISY nurse award. Here’s how to participate in the DAISY program to build morale and resilience within your organization — while helping you both inspire and retain your most valuable assets.
What Is the DAISY Foundation?
The DAISY Foundation was founded in 1999 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes, who observed the compassionate care nurses provided during his hospitalization. They created the acronym DAISY for “diseases attacking the immune system,” since Barnes himself suffered from an autoimmune disease.
The Barnes family created the DAISY Foundation as a way to express profound gratitude for the nurses who took care of their beloved family member. The program gives other families and healthcare staff a way to recognize nurses for exceeding their expected, everyday duties. The DAISY Nurse Award is implemented in over 5,000 healthcare facilities and schools of nursing worldwide.
What Is a DAISY Award?
The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses recognizes nurses who exhibit excellence in nursing — both clinically and personally. It’s a way to recognize nurses who’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty and exemplified strong patient care. Clinical nurses, nursing faculty, and nursing students can be nominated for the DAISY award.
Leaders establish the criteria for a DAISY nurse award based on the organization’s mission and values. Anyone who notices a nurse’s display of excellence and compassion can nominate a nurse for a DAISY nursing award, including:
- Patients
- Families
- Colleagues (such as other nurses, physicians, or clinical staff)
At an award ceremony, a presenter may read the submission recounting the act of kindness that the nurse demonstrated. It’s often a moving, heartfelt experience for everyone present.
How Many DAISY Awards Are Given Each Year?
The number of awards varies depending on the amount of facilities participating in the program, and their decisions about how to set up an award schedule. Most facilities have a DAISY committee, typically assigned by a chief nursing officer (CNO), which implements the program. They review submissions, choose award recipients, and coordinate award ceremonies.
Award ceremonies occur monthly, biannually, or quarterly, depending on the organization’s goals. For example, Johns Hopkins Hospital honored 12 nurses and 1 nursing team in 2024, while hospitals in rural settings may give the award out less frequently.
Is the DAISY Award a Big Deal?
The DAISY program is recognized industry-wide and has a reputation for lifting up dedicated and passionate caregivers. Award ceremonies are a chance for multiple members of staff and administration to share gratitude for the nurse’s efforts, which can be an emotional experience. Nurses may also receive public recognition in local newspapers, online, and in social media.
Other DAISY Award benefits include lifelong designation as a DAISY Honoree. Honorees enjoy a spotlight page, potential reduced rates for continuing education and certification programs, and discounts with participating stress-reduction and burnout-prevention vendors. In addition, honorees can list the distinction on their resumes and connect with other ribbon-wearing award winners at conferences.
What Are DAISY Awards Categories?
As you consider nominations for your nursing team, know that there are a few different areas of care that you can spotlight. The DAISY Foundation provides the following categories of nursing awards, each of which looks to honor professionals who go above and beyond the call of duty. If you’re looking to nominate a nurse in one of these categories, keep in mind that annual nomination deadlines may differ for each.
Direct Care
An award for direct care is a way to recognize exceptional nurses who provide both clinical and compassionate care to patients and family members. These awards can highlight nurses who promote patient safety in your organization or who demonstrate excellence in specific practices like ambulatory care, for instance.
Health Equity
This award honors nurses who work to advance health equity and to mitigate disparities resulting from social determinants of health. Honorees may have provided exceptional care or advocated beyond what was expected for a patient experiencing demographic or economic challenges. DAISY Award criteria for this category may differ from one facility to another, and could include themes such as addressing social needs, integrating social justice perspectives, and excellent communication skills.
Lifetime Achievement
This award recognizes those who have devoted their life’s work to compassionate care. Recipients are typically recognized for their work as active mentors, role models, and patient advocates. Candidates must have worked over 25 years in the nursing field, and demonstrate a distinguished career in clinical practice, administration, education, or research.
Nurse Educators
This award honors nurse educators who have an inspirational influence in academic and practice settings and who play a pivotal role in shaping the nursing workforce. DAISY award nomination examples in this category include nurse educators on the clinical floor and nursing faculty.
Nursing Ethics
Nurses who exemplify human values and ethics in their clinical care practices or in their leadership roles can be recognized with this award.
In addition to ongoing, facility-based awards given in this category, nurses may also be nominated for the American Nurses Association (ANA) DAISY Award for Nursing Ethics in Practice, a distinction that was developed in collaboration with the ANA’s Center for Ethics and Human Rights. Historically, DAISY Award winners for this particular category are honored at the annual National Nursing Ethics Conference in Los Angeles.
Nurse Leader
With this award, you can recognize nursing leaders who may not have direct patient care responsibilities, but who nonetheless lead, mentor, and develop a culture of compassionate care in their organization. A common question about this category is, What is a DAISY Award in leadership designed to honor? Because the DAISY program has roots in direct patient care, this category represents a divergence from other categories.
The foundation shares that this category serves a different purpose: to recognize those whose work supports frontline staff. Though some nurse leaders, such as managers, directors, and informatics nurses, may not have the opportunity to go above and beyond for patients and families, their work can create an environment for optimal patient care.
Nursing Students
This award celebrates nursing students who already demonstrate a commitment to compassionate care and the nurse-patient connection while in nursing school. Students can be part of campus-based or online programs, but must participate in clinicals that involve the provision of direct care to patients and families.
Nurse Teams
This award is a way to recognize a nurse-led collaboration by two or more people who go beyond their traditional roles to find ways to meet the healthcare needs of patients and family members. While facilities typically give out individual nurse awards monthly or quarterly, the team award is delivered annually and can be timed to coincide with celebrations for nurses’ week.
How Do DAISY Nurse Awards Improve the Nursing Experience?
Healthcare organizations can incorporate the DAISY nurse award as a strategic tool for improving the nursing experience. It may be implemented as part of a plan to increase nurse recruitment, retention, and resilience by promoting meaningful recognition in nursing. This recognition, in turn, can improve many other aspects of your organization.
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| Nurse Engagement | Experiencing recognition can ignite a nurse’s love for the profession and their commitment to providing compassionate care. This helps improve career satisfaction, which promotes retention. It can also contribute to nurse well-being and resilience. |
| Patient and Family Experience | Including families in organizational programs helps them have a more positive experience, particularly during difficult times. Family involvement promotes patient-and-family-centered care, a major contributor to patient satisfaction. |
| Healthy Work Environment | The DAISY program fosters a team environment by allowing colleagues to recognize one another. The award ceremony gives the team a chance to honor the DAISY nurse and reflect on the behavior that led to them receiving the award. This may inspire nurses to self-reflect on why they became nurses themselves. |
What Is Meaningful Recognition in Nursing?
The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) defines meaningful recognition in nursing as recognizing nurses and others for the value they bring to an organization. According to AACN, a healthy work environment starts with meaningful recognition, which improves a nurse’s experience by:
- Feeling a sense of pride.
- Strengthening their loyalty to an organization.
- Deepening their commitment to the nursing profession.
AACN advises healthcare organizations to have systems in place that recognize nurses meaningfully and individually. It should be a comprehensive system with formal processes in place that allow organizations to recognize all team members for the value they bring. Having a structured process helps to educate and encourage staff to participate in programs. A key to a successful program is having an evaluation system to make any necessary changes based on staff feedback.
How Can Healthcare Facilities Get Involved?
The DAISY Foundation asks that healthcare facilities participating in the program maintain a merit-based system that upholds the foundation’s values. Once enrolled, the foundation establishes an ongoing partnership with facilities. Together, you can customize the program based on your organization’s culture and values.
The foundation also provides ongoing support for facilities, from a guided implementation of the program to ensuring that they have the supply of program materials that they need. To see if your healthcare facility is one of the many DAISY partners, visit the DAISY Foundation’s participating organizations page.
Find More Ways to Increase Nurse Engagement
The DAISY nurse award is one way for your facility to improve nurse job satisfaction and optimize patient care. Get more ideas and insights with our healthcare facility guides and resources.
To fully appreciate the DAISY nurse award and what it can mean for nurses and patients, here’s a look at one touching award ceremony for a DAISY honoree, a clinic nurse at UW Health.