Evidence of DAISY's Impact

DAISY is an evidence-based form of meaningful recognition:

-DAISY has been used as a proxy for meaningful recognition in research studies

-DAISY has a 20-year history of success, which has provided insights into successful programs of nurse recognition

 As a form of meaningful recognition, DAISY can impact healthcare organizations in 3 areas:

 1. Contributes to a healthy work environment

  • 1 of 6 standards of a HWE (AANC, 2005, 2016)
  • Focuses on the “right in organizations versus what is wrong
  • Reminds nurses why they became nurses (Lefton, 2014)
  • Operationalizes Mission and Vision of compassionate care celebration as a Team (Kelly and Lefton, 2017)

2. Nurse Engagement

  • DAISY Nurses are role models of compassionate care (Lefton, 2012)
  • DAISY nominations may contribute to compassion satisfaction (Lefton, 2012)
  • Engaged nurses support nurse retention (Kelly and Lefton, 2017; Lefton, 2014)

 3. Patient and Family experience

  • Over 1.4 million nominations written to express gratitude (The DAISY Foundation, 2019)
  • Improves patient-experience outcomes (McClelland, et al, 2014)
  • Supports and demonstrates patient and family centered care (Sweeney, Grant, Lefton, Foreman-Lovell, 2019)
  • Fosters loyalty for an organization (Sweeney, et al, 2019)
  • Nominations provide information/data to improve patient experience (Clavelle, Sweeney, et al, 2019)

Link to References:

  1. American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.  Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments:  A Journey to Excellence, 2nd edition, 2016; 29-31.
  2. Kelly L, Runge J, Spencer C, Predictors of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction in acute care nurses.  J Nurs Scholarsh, November 2015; 47(6), 522-528.
  3. McClelland LE, Vogus TJ, Compassion practices and HCAHPS: does rewarding and supporting workplace compassion influence patient perceptions? Health Serv Res, 2014; 49(5),1670-83.
  4.  Lefton, C. Strengthening the workforce through meaningful recognition.  NURSING ECONOMIC$. November-December 2012; Vol. 30/No. 6; 331-338.
  5. Kelly, L. A., & Lefton, C. (2017). Effect of meaningful recognition on critical care nurses' compassion fatigue. American Journal of Critical Care, An Official Publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 26(6), 438-444. 10.4037/ajcc2017471 [doi].
  6. Grant S, Johnson B. Advancing the practice of patient- and family-centered care. Nurse Leader. 2019;17(4):325-329.
  7. Clavelle JT, Sweeney CD, Swartwout E, Lefton C, Senem G. Leveraging technology to sustain extraordinary care A qualitative analysis of meaningful nurse recognition. The Journal of Nursing Administration. 2019;49(6):303-309.
  8. Haizlip, Julie MD, MAPP; McCluney, Courtney PhD; Hernandez, Morela PhD; Quatrara, Beth DNP, RN, CMSRN, ACNS-BC; Brashers, Valentina MD.  Mattering: How Organizations, Patients, and Peers Can Affect Nurse Burnout and Engagement JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration: May 2020 - Volume 50 - Issue 5 - p 267-273
  9. Sweeney, CD, Grant, SM, Lefton, C, Foreman-Lovell, M. Expressing Gratitude: Findings From Patients and Families Who Nominate Nurses for The DAISY Award® Nurse Leader: February, 2020 - Volume 18, Issue 1, p 35-39.

 In addition: Dr. Lesly Kelly is an expert in Compassion Fatigue and well-published in tools to offset it - like The DAISY Award! Watch this excellent video from PBS, featuring Dr. Kelly and great DAISY Nurses at Banner University Medical Center.  View video here