Inova Loudoun Hospital’s Medical Surgical Unit Receives AMSN PRISM Award® for Exemplary Practice

Leesburg, VA — October 3, 2016 — The Medical Surgical Unit at Inova Loudoun Hospital has received the prestigious AMSN PRISM Award®, a relatively new honor recognizing exceptional nursing practice, leadership, and outcomes in hospital medical-surgical units across the country. Inova Loudoun Hospital is one of only 16 hospitals in the U.S. to receive this honor.

The award, which stands for “Premier Recognition In the Specialty of Med-Surg,” is the first of its kind honoring medical-surgical nursing units in the United States. It is co-sponsored by the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) and the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB). The award is given to outstanding acute care/medical-surgical units that achieve sustained excellence in nursing.

Officials representing AMSN and MSNCB presented the Medical Surgical Unit at Inova Loudoun Hospital with the AMSN PRISM Award plaque during a ceremony on Friday, September 23 at Inova Loudoun Hospital. The achievement of this award by the Inova Loudoun unit will also be announced at the AMSN Annual Convention; on the AMSN and MSNCB websites and social media sites; and in AMSN and MSNCB publications.

“It is an honor to be recognized for our teamwork, quality work environment, and excellent patient outcomes. This team is dedicated and committed to deliver exceptional care to our patients and community,” said Alison Smolsky, MSN, RN, NE-BC,
Patient Care Director
Medical Surgical & Oncology Units, Inova Loudoun Hospital.

Hoping to inspire nurses to strive for the highest levels of patient safety and quality, AMSN and MSNCB launched the award in October 2012. The award also reflects the compassion, commitment, and connection that characterize medical surgical nurses.
Specifically, the award celebrates units that exhibit:

• Effective leadership
• Recruitment and retention of competent staff members
• Evidence-based practice
• Positive patient outcomes
• A healthy work environment
• Lifelong learning of unit staff members

There are more than 600,000 medical-surgical nurses practicing in the United States today, making them the single largest group of specialty nurses working in hospital settings, according to AMSN. Med-surg nurses oversee a broad spectrum of patient care responsibilities, another reason the acronym “PRISM” was chosen for the award.
For more information about AMSN and the AMSN PRISM Award, visit amsn.org or contact the association at amsn-info@amsn.org or 866-877-AMSN.

Media Contact: Reneé Brohard, APR, 540-454-3493

# # #

The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN; www.amsn.org) is the only specialty nursing organization dedicated to medical-surgical nursing practice. Its mission is to promote excellence in medical-surgical nursing. The Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB; www.msncb.org) is a professional organization whose mission is to validate excellence in medical-surgical nursing.

Inova Loudoun Hospital, serving Loudoun County for over 100 years, is part of Inova, a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services, including emergency- and urgent-care centers, home care, nursing homes, mental health and blood donor services, and wellness classes. Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research. Visit us on the web at www.inova.org/ilh.