Nursing staff earn peer nominated Magnet Award

By Arianna Flores 

Our nursing staff has been recognized for their hard work and dedication to their profession by their peers. This recognition coincides with Cook Children’s journey to its fifth Magnet Designation.  

Magnet Designation 

The Magnet Recognition Program is awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and the designation lasts for four years.  

Cook Children's has earned four consecutive Magnet designations since 2006, a distinction achieved by fewer than 1% of hospitals nationwide.

Kaylan Branson, RN, MSN, Director of Nursing Quality and Magnet Program, said this award is only given to the top healthcare organizations committed to excellent nursing.  

“Magnet is the number one nursing recognition in the world,” she said. “To be recognized as a you must create a culture that builds a strong nursing profession and supports nurses, recognizes nurses,” she said.  

Nominations  

This year there were 99 peer nominations among the nursing and support staff.  

“We create and support a culture here at Cook Children's that allows nurses to practice at their highest level and to professionally develop and grow as a nurse and as a profession,” Kaylan said.  

Here is a full list of our winners:  

Structural Empowerment: Sarah Holden 

Innovation: Daniel Figueroa 

Exemplary Professional Practice: Anthony Garcia and Kelly Jones 

Transformational Leader: Erika Garcia 

Ancillary Staff Member of the Year: Marie Kerr and Sumalee Hernandez 

Preceptor of the Year: Hollie Allen 

Mentor of the Year: Jessica Hazard 

Nurse Leader-Manager of the Year: Amy Kotter and Ashley Kovacev 

For more information about the awards please visit the CookNet site here.   

“It always amazes me that our nurses want to recognize each other, they want to come out and celebrate each other,” Branson said. “The nominations are very touching, and even if the people who were nominated didn't win, we still send them a letter with their nomination in it, just so that they could see those words, so that they could feel appreciated for the work that they did, because all of the nominations were very touching,” Kaylan said.  

Future Nomination 

Cook Children’s is currently applying for its fifth Magnet distinguishment and wants to hear from our nursing staff. If you have a story, project or initiative that could be added to the Magnet submission please contact Kaylan Branson. The deadline for submission is in February. To learn more about Cook Children’s involvement visit the CookNet site here.