Nurse Recognition Nomination Process

The Nurse Recognition Program will select two nominated individuals each quarter, one per category, to be celebrated on various IHS digital platforms. This program will build recognition and visibility for nursing contributions throughout the year. Each quarter, in March, June, September, and December, two nurses will be recognized, one for a nurse in an Administrator role and one in direct clinical work. Nominations due by the 15th of February, May, August, and November.

Purpose

To acknowledge and honor Nurses across the Indian health system who have demonstrated distinguished practice in nursing, exceptional compassion, commitment to patients, colleagues, and the profession of nursing which resulted in noteworthy clinical and/or administrative accomplishments that exemplifies nursing excellence in practice and/or nursing leadership, serving as a role model for others throughout the I/T/U.

Criteria

• Nominee status: Nurses employed within the Indian Health Service, tribal sites and urban clinics
• Two recipients will be selected once per quarter, one nurse per category
• Nurses must be actively involved in a direct clinical or administrative nursing role
• Time frame covers the past calendar year

Nomination must include the following

The category the majority of the nominees position responsibilities falls under either 1) Administrator role (ex. CNE, CNO, supervisor/management, nurse consultant) or 2) Direct Clinical- any nursing role where the majority of the position is in direct patient care/contact with patients.

Major achievement(s) in the nominee's clinical or administrative nursing role. Areas to consider include significant involvement in addressing/implementing a current agency wide or local area initiative within the last year, efforts impacting nursing recruitment and retention, consistent exemplar patient care delivery, access to care, patient safety and quality efforts.

NOTE: All nominations must be submitted in narrative format in either unlocked WORD or ADOBE PDF file format. The nomination is limited to one page. Nominations received in excess of one page will be returned.

Text must be formatted in CALIBRI font style in 11pt font size

Nomination packages will include

• Nomination
• Signatures by immediate supervisor and the CEO of the facility
• A high quality photo of the nominee in JPEG file format (excluding name badge). This photo will be used in social media announcements for the individual selected for the recognition.

Nomination must be submitted to the IHS Division of Nursing at HQOCPSNurseRecognition@ihs.gov by the 15th of February, May, August, or November.

Recommendations

Include a description of how the contributions enhance the profession of nursing. In your description, consider nursing throughout the I/T/U, as well as agency mission; patient care, patient trust and satisfaction with the agency; care delivery and access to care through innovation, facilitation of change, quality initiatives, mentorship, policy development and/or implementation, initiatives/program development; significant committee roles and contributions; and use of evidence-based practice and/or persistent nursing practice excellence in care delivery.

Division of Nursing Services Nurses of the Quarter Recognition Form [PDF - 468 KB]

• Nominations will be reviewed by IHS DNS staff.
• Acronyms and job positions should be clearly explained so all can understand scope and responsibilities.
• Include measurable contributions. Avoid generic phrases such as spent countless hours or brilliant leader.
• The nomination write-up should capture the breadth of position held, e.g., number supervised, level of leadership, or acts demonstrating leadership and/or excellence in nursing practice.
• Please do not cut and paste bullets from evaluations, as these usually don't tell the whole story about a nominee and contributions. Instead, provide a narrative of the distinguished nurse’s direct clinical practice or administrative leadership and contributions.