The DAISY Nurse Leader Award: Expressing Gratitude for Courageous Leaders Fostering an environment where compassion and courage can thrive

In July 2016, several nurse leaders gathered for an informal conversation about the attributes of a nurse leader recognized with The DAISY Nurse Leader Award™. Since 1999, The DAISY Foundation™ has embraced their mission to thank nurses for their compassionate and extraordinary care of patients through meaningful recognition with The DAISY Award™. The literature defines meaningful recognition as “a powerful form of positive feedback, meaningful recognition acknowledges how a person's actions affect the life of another, is relevant to the recipient, and is equivalent to his or her contribution.”1 In 2014, The DAISY Foundation realized that more and more organizations wanted to recognize their nurse leaders in a meaningful way and were doing so with The DAISY Award. The intent of The DAISY Award is to recognize nurses who provide extraordinary patient care in a compassionate way. Inquiries from as far away as Vietnam were received, asking for a means to recognize nurse leaders for their compassionate and extraordinary leadership. A committee consisting of representatives from DAISY hospitals, DAISY staff, and nursing leaders met over the next few months to validate the need and establish the criteria. The DAISY Nurse Leader Award was launched at the 2015 AONE Conference, to recognize the unique qualities inherent in nursing leaders who create the environment where extraordinary and compassionate nursing practice may flourish. The first recipients were recognized in late 2015.