NOMINATION INFORMATION with DOWNLOADABLE FORMS

The Awards

 The New Mexico Excellence Awards recognize nurses in 20 professional categories including the prestigious Distinguished Nurse of the Year Award. The recipient in each category will be a nurse, LPN or RN, whose leadership and contributions have made a significant impact in his/her community and to the profession of nursing.

The "Touch of Life" Award offers patients, their families and other members of the community an opportunity to recognize the special nurses who have touched their lives. The purpose of this award is to reflect and honor the special relationship between patients and nurses. Patients, friends/family, co-workers, businesses and organizations may nominate nurses.

The Nursing Legend Award recognizes retired nurses who have significantly contributed to nursing in New Mexico.

 Nomination Fee

The fee for each nomination is $50. This fee covers the nominee's complimentary dinner during the New Mexico Nursing Excellence Awards Celebration. A very limited number of waivers are available for individuals making a nomination and needing assistance with the fee. If you would like assistance with this fee, please include a written request with your completed nomination form for waiver consideration. If paying by check, please make payable to NMCNE.

Nominee Criteria

Candidate must have been a resident of New Mexico for a minimum of one year from August 2009 to August 2010 to qualify as a nominee. Posthumous nominations are not accepted.  Each nomination category has a unique set of criteria which are detailed on nomination forms.

 Deadline:

 Nomination fees and forms must be submitted online, by mail, or by fax by August 4, 2010. 

 Nominee Information

 All qualified nominees will receive one complimentary ticket to attend the New Mexico Nursing Excellence Awards Celebration on Saturday, October 23, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya, Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. Award recipients in each specific nursing category will be announced during the awards celebration on October 23rd. Award recipients will receive a special award specifically created for the New Mexico Nursing Excellence Awards.

Nomination Categories and Downloadable Forms for 2010

To download a nomination form, just click on your chosen category and you will be taken to appropriate nomination form with that category's unique criteria. Simply "save as" on your computer and complete.

Mail the completed nomination packet along with the $50 nomination fee to:

NM Center for Nursing Excellence

3200 Carlisle NE, Ste. 205

Albuquerque, NM  87110

For some helpful "Tips for Completing a Successful Nomination", click here.

If you have questions about categories or the nomination process, please contact us at info@nmnursingexcellence.org or call us at 505-889-4518.

Category	Category Description
ADVANCED  PRACTICE	Masters prepared nurse in an advanced practice setting; clinical nurse specialist, certified nurse midwife, nurse practitioner, nurse psychotherapist, CRNA
AMBULATORY  NURSING	Clinic, office and other ambulatory care settings, employee health, occupational health, industrial health, infection control
BEHAVIORAL  HEALTH	Behavioral health and addictive services
CASE/QUALITY  MANAGEMENT / MANAGED  CARE / INFORMATICS	Community or hospital case manager, quality management, risk management, patient safety, utilization management and informatics
CRITICAL  CARE	Adult ICU / CCU, cath lab, special procedures
EMERGENCY	Emergency department, flight, ambulance, pre-hospital, telephone triage
HOME  HEALTH / HOSPICE	Staff nurse in home health care settings, hospice, in-patient hospice
LONG-TERM CARE / REHABILITATION	Nursing home, gerontology, services for disabilities, rehabilitative services, subacute / transitional unit
MATERNAL-CHILD / WOMEN'S HEALTH	Obstetrics, gynecology, women's health, nursery, pediatrics, NICU, PICU, Peds ER, early childhood / early intervention services
MEDICAL / SURGICAL	Acute or chronic medical and surgical nursing specialties
PERIOPERATIVE	Preoperative, recovery room, day surgery, operating room
RURAL  PRACTICE	Practice in small communities and rural health systems with county population of 100,000 or less per 2007 census (counties other than Bernalillo, Dona Ana, Sandoval, San Juan or Santa Fe), where access to care and resources provide unique challenges
PUBLIC HEALTH / COMMUNITY / SCHOOL	Public health, school, forensic, transplant coordinator, parish and prison nursing
MANAGEMENT / EMERGING LEADERSHIP	(Manager / Coordinator, Supervisor / Charge / Lead)  Organizational role of leadership / management and accountable for frontline strategic, operational and / or performance outcomes in sites where healthcare is delivered
NURSE  EXECUTIVE  LEADERSHIP	(Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer, Dean, Director)  Senior leadership role in executive practice, accountable for strategic, operational, accountability, facilitating the design of patient care deliver, transitions, system integration, and providing leadership at the executive table
OUTSTANDING  NURSING  STUDENT	Currently enrolled in an accredited entry-to-practice / pre-licensure nursing education program; student in good standing; maintains at least 3.0 GPA
EDUCATION / RESEARCH / ACADEMIA	(Academic faculty, inservice, continuing education, staff development)  Focus in non-clinical / clinical settings; research
COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD	Recognition of a nurse who takes a leadership role in community organization and has made significant professional or voluntary contributions in that they have improved the profession or patient care in New Mexico
NIGHTINGALE AWARD	Exemplifies outstanding and caring leadership and professionalism as a beginning practitioner in the first 18 months as a Registered Nurse
DISTINGUISHED NURSE OF THE YEAR AWARD	A nurse who, over the past 15 years, has taken the lead through innovative leadership, fostering involvement in the profession, or forming and engaging partnerships within the community
THE "TOUCH A LIFE" AWARD	(Nominated by a patient, patient family member or other community member)  This nominee demonstrates the heart of nursing through their positive impact on an individual, family and / or community

 Selection Process

The New Mexico Nursing Excellence Award Selection Committee is comprised of nurses from around the state.  In addition to these committee members, award nominees from the previous year are invited to join the selection committee.  The entire selection process is done by code and the names of the nominees are not known until after the selections are completed.  Honorees are not announced (even within the NEA Planning Committee) until the night of the Nursing Excellence Awards dinner.  This is our process:

• Anyone can nominate a nurse (colleague, supervisor, patient, family member); the criteria are tailored to type of award based on feedback/recommendations of nurses.
• Nominees are validated against the NM Board of Nursing to ensure they are nurses in good standing.
• Nominations are blinded as to nominee, nominator and organization, then given a unique code, by which they are identified throughout selection process.
• Selection committee members do not evaluate nominees on their own specialty.  A minimum of three (3) evaluators score each award category.
• Nominations are scored against four (4) weighted criteria.
• The nominee with the highest score in the category is the award winner in that category.  If the top two (2) scores are within .5 points, another independent evaluator scores the two (2) nominations to determine winner.
• The winners are only then identified by name and organization.