The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) has granted the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital the 2024 Lantern Award for excellence in leadership, practice, education, advocacy and research performance.

To qualify, applicants must meet key targets in five domains including leadership, operations, education, advocacy, and research. They must also share their department’s performance and outcome metrics with the ENA, and answer detailed questions about how evidence-based practice and innovation are incorporated into emergency care.

Comer Children’s is one of 94 emergency departments across the United States to receive a Lantern Award this year — and it comes as the hospital faced down challenges and swiftly implemented new procedures to address them.

“This remarkable team has transformed adversity into achievement,” said Tom Houchins, DNP, RN, CCRN-K, NE-BC, Director of Pediatric Cancer and Emergency Services at Comer Children’s. “Their journey is an inspiring testament to the power of teamwork and desire for change.”

To achieve the rigorous outcomes set by the ENA, the department established several new quality and operational structures. The department’s new quality structure incorporates clinical debriefs, quality review, simulation, education and multiple subcommittees. Most efforts were interdisciplinary, and nearly all of the clinical team was involved in some way.

Most of these venues were interdisciplinary and nearly all of the clinical team was involved either directly or indirectly.

“The synergy between the ED Quality Committee, the quality improvement program, and the frontline staff has cultivated a culture of shared responsibility and continuous learning within our Pediatric Emergency Department,” read the team’s Lantern Award application.

Some of the changes in the ED’s quality improvement structure were so impactful that they’re now being implemented in other departments across Comer Children’s, Houchins said.

Comer Children’s will be recognized in upcoming ENA publications, on the ENA website and during Emergency Nursing 2024, which is the association’s annual conference in Las Vegas in September.

"We are thrilled to see our emergency department being recognized for their ongoing commitment to our community by providing safe, quality care in a healthy working environment,” Houchins said.