Kathmandu, 3 November . Nurses makes a difference in touching lives and changing the world. The road to become a nurse may be a difficult one but the rewards and benefits outweigh the difficulties. It is the fast paced and indemand field. The profession offers many benefits to people who enjoy helping people.

Nurses are givers, they make enormous difference in the world around them . They make a difference through their knowledge, training and compassion. They are the Heart of health care system.

Our own Nepali Nurse Priyanka Baral who has been working in Health Care in Nepal for more than a decade and who is currently working as a RN In USA won the DAISY AWARD in  January 2022. 

 The Daisy Foundation aim to honor the nurses by showing profound gratitude for all they do. Nurses every day go above and beyond to not only provide patients and families with excellence in clinical care but also compassion. The DAISY Award is a recognition program to celebrate and recognize nurses by collecting nominations from patients, families, co-workers. It is run by Daisy Foundation as a way to thank nurses for the care and kindness they provide.

Every nomination is meaningful recognition of the nurse who receives it from a grateful patient, family members or co-workers. Receiving a copy of their nomination nurses understand the impact they had on the person who wrote the nomination and the difference they have made. They also receive a special Daisy nominee pin and note from patient. These nominations are blinded and sent to an internal committee at the participating organization. The committee reads and scores the nomination using criteria that focus on compassion and fit the mission and values of organization and that one nurse is awarded as a Daisy Award Honoree by the Organization. The Daisy Award is given to individuals, leaders, nursing faculties. It can also be given as a Life Time Achievement Award to nurses for their excellent service.

The Daisy award was established in January 2000 in the memory of J.Patrick  Barnes who died at the age of 33 due to the autoimmune disease. (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura) –ITP . The Barnes family was awestruck by the clinical skills an compassion of the nurses who cared for Patrick, so they created this award to say thank you to the nurse every where.

They created the DAISY AWARD for the Extraordinary Nurses because they believed nurses are truly “unsung heroes". They felt nurses are deserving of our society’s profound respect and recognition for the education, training, brainpower and skill they put into their work.

We are happy to share the fact that our  Nepali nurse Ms Priyanka Baral has been awarded and recognized with this prestigious award for her exceptional care given to her patients in her unit in Shannon Medical Centre, Texas, USA . She has been working in in Med / Surg unit/ Onco unit since May 2021. She received the Daisy award from Chief Nursing Officer – Becky Fuentes in the presence of Chairman – Mr Shane Plywell, Nursing Director Miss Tiffany, unit Manger –Brittany Manuel along with other HR delegates in Shannon Medical Center.

The name DAISY was chosen by Patrick’s wife as an Acronym that stands for “Disease Attacking the Immune System" honoring Patrick’s fight against ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura)

Despite exceptional nursing care, he did not survive the disease and passed away. Through their grief they wondered how to recognize and award nurses who go above and beyond in their profession to deliver compassionate and competent care.

A DAISY AWARD Honoree receives 

• A certificate held in portfolio, proclaiming the recipient an ‘Extraordinary Nurse’
• A Daisy Award pin 
• A unique hand –carved serpentine stone sculpture entitled “A Healer’s Touch”
• A spotlight page on Daisy Website , featuring a photo and telling the story of why this nurse was honored. www.daisyfoundation.org
• A treat to the nurse and whole team present that day in the unit with cinnamon rolls on that day 
• Many educational benefits provided by the foundation which is listed in its website.

According to Priyanka she never thought she would receive this prestigious award. She was over whelmed by the response she received from her patients who nominated her several times as the best nurse. She has been working actively in her nursing field more than a decade in Nepal then she went to United States to  explore her career further. She is working as a BSNRN in Shannon Medical Center since 2 and half years. She claims that hardwork and determination with selfless care given to your patients will always be appreciated and you will get immense satisfaction in your work.