Six UAB Medicine critical-care nursing units won 2025 Beacon Awards from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). This national honor recognizes units that distinguish themselves by providing high-quality patient care in a healthy work environment.
The units that earned silver-level Beacon Awards for 2025 are:
- 6 North, UAB Hospital-Highlands
- Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU)
- Medical Critical-Care Unit (MCCU)
- Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU)
- W5 North Cardiac Surgery
In addition, the Heart & Lung Transplant Intensive Care Unit (HLTICU) earned a bronze-level award. Five of the units previously won Beacon Awards, but this marked the first for 6 North at UAB Hospital-Highlands.
About the award
The Beacon Award was established in 2003 by the AACN, which represents over 500,000 acute-care and critical-care nurses across the United States and Canada. Winners demonstrate a commitment to putting patients first and benefit from effective collaboration, high morale, and low turnover. According to the AACN, nurses who work in these units tend to report greater job satisfaction.
In applying for the award, units submit data that show a consistent and systematic approach to optimizing patient outcomes. The silver-level award affirms that the unit maintains effective policies, procedures, and processes, with high engagement from staff and key stakeholders. Winning units also have evaluation and improvement strategies in place and post outstanding results in key performance measures when compared to relevant benchmarks.
Congratulations to each of these units, and thank you for your continued excellence!