A novelty item caught the eye of Stephanie Eleyi, MBA, BSN, RN, while browsing the gift shop at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London this summer: a yellow rubber duck with a cap and dress reminiscent of the “Lady with the Lamp.”

“It made me smile, and I thought it might bring a smile to our nurses as well,” said Eleyi, the nursing director for Ambulatory OB/GYN. She decided to use the duck as part of a new recognition program for nurses in the department.

“I wanted to expand on our recognition and engagement,” she said. “Everyone is working hard every day, and our nurses don’t often pause to recognize the positive impact they have made on their colleagues and our patients.”

The monthly award, which launched in November, is based on nominations from colleagues and honors a nurse or team who has demonstrated the “Florence Nightingale” way of nursing.

The first recipient of the award, a small gift and the duck is Ann Marie Colletta, RN, of Maternal Fetal Medicine, known to her colleagues as “AMC.”

Ann Marie Colletta, RN

“AMC is a force,” reads the nomination. “I have never heard her complain about working. She is one of the smartest, most talented nurses I know. She is ALWAYS willing to help when needed.”

The nomination details a recent example, where Colletta offered to support her colleague in caring for a patient who was added to the busy schedule for an iron infusion and had traveled a distance to receive it.

“I could not do it, although I wanted to help,” wrote the nominator. “AMC all of a sudden showed up out of nowhere. Big smile, ‘I’m here to help,’ she said as she plopped down beside me in the chair. ‘I did not want this woman not to be able to get her iron.’ That is what nursing is. AMC was considerate and kind enough to stop what she was doing and come and help this patient and me. She is a joy to work with, and I am honored to call her a co-worker.”