Sarasota Memorial Hospital's cardiovascular thoracic stepdown/cardiac progressive 3 unit recently was honored for its high-quality care, earning a silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical–Care Nurses (AACN). The national honor singles out units that successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six healthy work environment standards. To earn the honors, all of the units have demonstrated excellence in categories including 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.

The cardiac progressive 3 unit is the third SMH nursing unit to earn a Beacon Award. The hospital’s critical care unit has also earned a silver-level Beacon Award, and its cardiac acute/cardiac progressive 1 unit received a gold award.