At Ochsner, it’s our people that make us strong. We are proud of our accomplishments, and we recognize that is due to the hard work and dedication of our employees. Recognizing employee excellence is an essential part of the Ochsner culture. We reward our employees for delivering superior service to our patients, customers, family members, team members, and guests. Ochsner offers a variety of programs and events that serve to recognize and reward employees for their hard work, years of service, patient satisfaction and commitment to excellence.
The Spirit of Ochsner program is designed to recognize employees and departments demonstrating outstanding customer service and carrying out the Ochsner mission.
The program consists of four award categories:
- Spirit on the Spot - Celebrates employees who carry out Ochsner’s mission on a daily basis
- Spirit of Caring - Celebrates individual service heroes at a facility level either monthly or quarterly and annually on a system level
- Spirit of Service - Celebrates employees with five to 40+ years of service
- Spirit of Leadership - Celebrates outstanding leadership
In addition, we also have the DAISY award which is an award program for Nurses only.
Spirit on the Spot is a part of the Spirit of Ochsner recognition program which provides on-the-spot recognition for Ochsner employees who demonstrate an exceptional effort in contributing to the Ochsner mission to: Serve, Heal, Lead, Educator and Innovate.
The goals of the Spirit on the Spot program are to:
- Promote awareness of the Ochsner Mission.
- Increase praise and recognition across the entire organization.
- Encourage peer-to-peer accountability for service excellence.
- Capture stories of service excellence.
Each month, managers read the Spirit on the Spot cards in department staff meetings and post the cards in a central location.
The Spirit of Caring award is given to nominated employees who demonstrate an exceptional attitude for caring. They reinforce our Mission by putting our patients and customers first by quickly attending to their needs, and proactively reaching out to ensure comfort and outstanding service. Spirit of Caring winners make a difference in their work environment by spreading a positive attitude and showing respect and compassion to patients and peers alike.
The Spirit of Service award program recognizes employees celebrating years of service in five year intervals as an Ochsner employee. Employees attaining 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 plus years of service are honored at a special ceremony and receive a pin and certificate. In addition, employees with 25-40 plus years of service receive a special gift from Ochsner Health System.
The annual Spirit of Ochsner Leadership awards program acknowledges leaders, physicians, and teams demonstrating outstanding leadership qualities and contributions to their profession, Ochsner, or the community. Employees and managers are encouraged to review the list of award categories and send in nominations. This is a great opportunity to recognize successes and memorable contributions.
Spirit of Leadership, not only recognizes the award recipients, but also finalists in each category through a system broadcast and a special annual awards event night called, “A Night at the Ochsners.” The awards night includes a cocktail and dessert reception and an awards presentation (styled after the Oscars) in downtown New Orleans. The awards presentation announces the finalists and the award recipient live for each of the 20 categories. Each Spirit of Leadership recipient receives a 12-pound Alton Ochsner statue, a certificate for display, and a photograph and biography display in our traveling Cafeteria display.
Award categories include:
- Physician Leader of the Year
- Physician of the Year by Region
- New Physician of the Year
- Teacher of the Year
- Edward Frolich Researcher of the Year
- Management Leader of the Year - Clinical and Non-Clinical
- Mid-Level Provider of the Year
- Nurse of the Year
- New Leader of the Year - Clinical and Non-Clinical
- Supervisor Team Leader of the Year
- Department of the Year - Clinical and Non-Clinical
- Project of the Year
- Quality Project of the Year
- Community Service Award
Ochsner Health System prides itself on providing excellent patient care through our outstanding nursing team. To appreciate those achieving excellent patient satisfaction, we recognize top nurses through our DAISY Award program. DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System. The DAISY Foundation was established in 2000 by the family of J. Patrick Barnes who died of complications of an auto-immune disease. During Patrick’s eight-week hospitalization, his family was awestruck by the care and compassion his nurses provided not only to him, but to everyone in his family. The DAISY Award was conceived by the Barnes family as a way to say thank you to nurses around the country and was adopted by Ochsner for recognizing outstanding nursing care.
A nation-wide nursing recognition program, nurses are selected by their nursing administration and peers on a monthly basis to receive the DAISY Award. DAISY Award recipients not only demonstrate excellent clinical skills and leadership, but also exceptional patient care and compassion. The honorees receive a certificate commending him/her for being an “Extraordinary Nurse.” In today’s climate of nursing shortages and more acutely ill patients, Ochsner is proud to honor and recognize our exceptional nurses!
