Making Our Mark

Good morning.

In Monday’s eCV, the top story highlighted an enormous achievement by our pediatric intensive care unit nursing staff. They received an American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Beacon Award for Excellence for the level of expertise of the unit’s nurses and for the high-quality patient care and positive outcomes. This level of national recognition is amazing and certainly warranted. Congrats to the entire PICU team!

When I read that story, it got me thinking about all of the other areas within our Medical Center that have been recognized nationally or regionally for high levels of professionalism and/or success. It happens frequently, and when it does, it’s a clear indication that the work we are doing is not only meeting needs but also exceeding them.

Routinely, in the eCV newsletter we all receive each week, there will be stories about these types of personal or department/office achievements, or they will be recognized in short briefs grouped together in an “Accolades” item. Click here to see a recent Accolade post. I encourage you to read these so you, too, can know about Medical Center areas and professionals giving us a good name in academic, patient care and/or research circles. In many cases, UMMC is mentioned alongside – or even besting – the big players in academic medicine, which increases our profile and yours.

I attend the Medical Center’s Awards and Recognition Committee meetings where we discuss and evaluate awards that are open for nominations – like the ones found here that the Association of American Medical Colleges presents each year. If you hear about any similar awards of which you think this committee should be aware, please send them to awardsandrecognition@umc.edu.

I am astounded daily by what we can accomplish when we work together and put everything we have into it. And I love it when we – YOU – have a chance to be recognized by outside organizations for the work being done here. If we are lauded for our work by people outside of this state, it’s confirmation that we are traveling the right path toward A Healthier Mississippi.