The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) recently announced the 2012 recipients of the Beacon Award for Excellence.

The award recognizes U.S.-based hospital units that employ evidence-based practices to improve patient and family outcomes. Units that achieve this award with gold, silver and bronze designations demonstrate practices that align with AACN's six standards for a healthy work environment.

Recipients of a Gold Beacon Award demonstrate excellence in sustained unit performance and patient outcomes. Silver-level recipients demonstrate continuous learning and effective systems to achieve optimal patient care. Bronze-level awardees demonstrate success in developing, deploying and integrating unit-based performance criteria for optimal outcomes.

Facilities honored in the region include:

Alabama

• Pediatric ICU, Children's Hospital, Birmingham (Silver)

• CVICU, East Alabama Medical Center, Opelika (Silver)

Florida

• SICU/CTICU, Malcom Randal VA Medical Center, Gainesville (Silver)

• 4 East SICU, Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville (Silver)

• 4 West-Surgical/Trauma ICU, Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville (Gold)

• Pediatric ICU, Miami Children's Hospital, Miami (Gold)

• Cardiac ICU, Miami Children's Hospital, Miami (Silver)

Georgia

• ICU/IMCU, Gwinnett Medical Center-Duluth, Duluth (Silver)

Tennessee

• Cardiovascular ICU, Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center, Memphis (Gold)

Texas

• Cardiovascular ICU, Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, Fort Worth (Bronze)

• P7 Thoracic/Cardiovascular Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (Silver)

• Dunn Surgical ICU, The Methodist Hospital, Houston (Silver)

• Pediatric ICU, Covenant Health System, Lubbock (Silver)

• Neuro/Neurosurgical ICU, The Methodist Hospital, Houston (Gold)