Panel of Experts

A panel of leading patient safety experts will conduct a careful "blind" review of all the abstracts submitted to identify best examples of nurse-driven interventions to improve patient safety outcomes. All of the information submitted in the application is completely confidential. 

Evaluation Criteria

Each submission will be evaluated and scored using the following criteria:

• Innovation (10 points)
• Inspiration/role modeling to other nurses (10 points)
• Impact on nursing unit/department/hospital/system (10 points)
• Outcomes (i.e., morbidity/mortality, performance improvement and practice changes) (10 points)

Each criterion is worth a total of 10 points. Points will be awarded based upon how well each criterion was demonstrated using a 10-point scale ranging from 0 points (Not documented) to 10 points (Well documented).

Scores will be totaled to obtain each project’s final score. The maximum points allowed per submission are 40. A winner will be selected for each award category and will be based upon the total overall scores for each category. The submission with the highest overall score will be awarded a grand prize of $5000. The decision of reviewers is final.

Notification of Winners

Notification of the top three nominees for each category will be delivered via e-mail by February 15, 2011. Nominees will be requested to provide a poster of their abstract at the awards event to share with attendees. Winners will be announced during the awards presentation event on April 14, 2011.