Two Orlando Health Hospitals Receive Highest Recognition For Excellence In Emergency Department Care

Orlando, FL (July 12, 2024) – Two Orlando Health hospitals have been selected as recipients of the Emergency Nurses Association’s (ENA) 2024 Lantern Award for demonstrating excellence in leadership, practice, education, advocacy and research performance. Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) and Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital both received this recognition which is touted as the gold standard for measuring quality and safety in emergency nursing. They join the ranks of Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital which was the only emergency department in Central Florida to receive the prestigious distinction last year.

Orlando Health ORMC and Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips are home to two of the 94 emergency departments (ED) across the country to receive this year’s Lantern Award. The Lantern Award showcases the emergency departments’ accomplishments in incorporating evidence-based practice and innovation into emergency care. As part of the application, EDs are encouraged to share stories that highlight a commitment to patient care, as well as the well-being of nursing staff. The award serves as a visible symbol of the organization’s commitment to quality, safety and a healthy work environment.

 

Orlando Health ORMC is the proud home of Central Florida’s only Level One Trauma Center. Notable achievements include the creation of the Trauma Nurse Leaders Program to enhance education, mentorship and specialized training opportunities, the implementation of an escalation plan paired with a triage provider to expedite patient care and prompt responses to STEMI, the most severe type of heart attack. The ED’s powerful teamwork was demonstrated during its response to the 2016 Pulse nightclub mass shooting. Since then, the hospital utilized lessons learned to develop a more robust surge plan and expanded the trauma bay which was redesigned based on input from the team who treated Pulse survivors. The hospital’s ED also implemented innovative caregiver focused tools including pet therapy, a calm space called the “Zen Den” and bonding experiences. Orlando Health ORMC is the only adult acute care hospital with Magnet designation in Orlando and holds more active Beacon Awards for Excellence than any other hospital in Florida.

“We are extremely honored to receive what is the highest recognition for excellence in emergency nursing,” said Tina Santos, MBA, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer of Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center. “We are humbled that our peers in the nursing professionrecognize and value our incredibly dedicated, skilled and compassionate team along with our mission of ensuring the highest quality care to all of our patients every single day in our emergency department and throughout our entire hospital.”

 

Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips serves patients in southwest Orange County and Orlando’s growing tourist population. Notable strategies within its emergency department include deploying resources to triage during peak volumes to decrease wait times and expedite patient care. This multidisciplinary approach enables teams to collaborate and care for the community in an efficient manner and ensures patients receive the healthcare they need. And while clinical teams care for the community, the hospital’s spiritual care team cares for its team members. "Tea for the Soul" is a monthly event that provides a relaxing environment for teams to decompress and put their mental and spiritual health first, which supports their ability to give their best at a patient's bedside.

“We are proud that our emergency department received this recognition, which highlights the teamwork and compassion required to provide the high quality of care that every patient deserves,” said Judy Colorado, RN, BSN, MA, Chief Nursing Officer of Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital. “We remain committed to our mission of serving the community’s urgent healthcare needs in a prompt, caring and efficient manner.”

Orlando Health ORMC and Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips’ Lantern Awards will be on display in the emergency departments. The hospitals will also be recognized in upcoming ENA publications, on the ENA website and during Emergency Nursing 2024, the association’s annual conference in Las Vegas, Sept. 4-7.

 

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization with$9.6 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico.

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for Central Florida’s only pediatric and adult Level I Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level II Adult Trauma Center in Pinellas County. It is the home of one of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care units, one of the only systems in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health has pioneered life-changing medical research and its Graduate Medical Education program hosts more than 350 residents and fellows.

The 3,487-bed system includes 17 hospitals, 10 free-standing emergency rooms and nine Hospital Care at Home programs. An additional four hospitals and six free-standing emergency rooms are coming soon. The system also includes 10 specialty institutes, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility under the management of Acadia Healthcare, and more than 375 outpatient facilities that include physician clinics, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. More than 4,950 physicians, representing more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs more than 29,000 team members and more than 1,500 physicians.

In FY 23, Orlando Health cared for 197,000 inpatients and 6.6 million outpatients. The healthcare system provided nearly $1.3 billion in total impact to the communities it serves in the form of community benefit programs and services, Medicare shortfalls, bad debt, community-building activities and capital investments in FY 22, the most recent period for which this information is available.

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