BCEN announces the 2023 winners of the annual national BCEN Distinguished Awards, recognizing one top board-certified RN in emergency, pediatric emergency, trauma, flight, and critical care ground transport nursing specialties.
“The 2023 BCEN Distinguished Award recipients embody the highest levels of clinical excellence in their specialties, and we applaud how they convey the importance of emergency, trauma, and transport nursing specialty certification as they support members of their teams to be the best they can be,” says BCEN CEO Janie Schumaker, MBA, BSN, RN, CEN, CENP, CPHQ, FABC.
Meet the 2023 BCEN Distinguished Award honorees.
Distinguished CEN Award (adult/mixed emergency): Calee Muldrow, BSN, RN, CEN, Emergency Department RN with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.
Muldrow, a Texas ER nurse, was on maternity leave when she got the news that she was named the 2023 Distinguished CEN (Certified Emergency Nurse). There are 40,000+ CENs worldwide, and the CEN is one of the oldest and most widely held national RN specialty certifications.
Distinguished CPEN Award (pediatric emergency): Dawn Tasche, BSN, RN, CPEN, Emergency Department RN with Aurora Health Care in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.
Tasche, a Wisconsin ED RN specializing in pediatric emergency care whose leadership led her community hospital’s ED to be the first to be recognized as “pediatric emergency care ready” by Wisconsin Emergency Medical Services, in alignment with national pediatric emergency care standards set by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Distinguished TCRN Award (trauma): Jordan Tyczka, MSN, RN, CEN, TCRN, Trauma Program Director at Inova Loudoun Hospital in Leesburg, Virginia.
Tyczka, a trauma specialty RN/educator who was just promoted to Trauma Program Director at her Virginia hospital and whose innovative continuing education initiatives include an Escape Room for trauma nurses.
Distinguished CFRN Award (flight): Stacey Dock, MSN, RN, CFRN, Flight Nurse/QA Coordinator/ Preceptor at LifeFlight Eagle in Kansas City, Missouri.
Dock, a 29-year flight nurse who earned her CFRN credential in 1995, is one of the most veteran Certified Flight Registered Nurses still flying and a local legend. Her Kansas City-based transport program originated from one of the first civilian air medical transport programs in the U.S.
Distinguished CTRN Award (critical care ground transport): George Olschewski, BSN, RN, CFRN, CTRN, CEN, TCRN, a Critical Care Transport & Mobile Intensive Care Nurse with the Hackensack University Medical Center Specialty Care Transport Unit in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Olschewski is an NJ-based, 20-year critical care transport/mobile intensive care nurse working in one of healthcare’s most high-stakes, autonomous and complex settings where “things can go sideways very quickly” when transporting critically ill and injured patients, sometimes over long distances. Critical care ground transport is so specialized there are only about 500 board-certified ground transport RNs, but the number of CTRNs has grown by ~20% each of the past several years.
Read about each in the 2023 BCEN Distinguished Award Meet the Winner series.
Honorees receive a commemorative Distinguished Award pin and one year of free access to the award-winning BCEN Learn professional development platform (valued at $2,500) to support continuing education in their specialty. They will also be honored at a celebration at their workplace this summer.
Over 50,000 RNs and advanced practice registered nurses in 26 countries hold one or more BCEN nursing specialty credentials as follows: over 40,000 hold the Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN), over 5,400 hold the Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse (CPEN), over 7,300 hold the Trauma Certified Registered Nurse (TCRN), over 5,700 hold the Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN), and nearly 500 hold the Certified Transport Registered Nurse (CTRN).
BCEN Distinguished Award honorees are selected based on their commitment to clinical excellence and professionalism through specialty certification and their leadership and innovation in supporting board certification for other nurses in their specialty.
National specialty certification independently validates a nurse’s advanced knowledge, clinical judgment, and professionalism across a nursing specialty body of knowledge. Specialty certification is associated with optimal patient outcomes and greater nurse career success and satisfaction.
Nominations for the 2023 BCEN National Certification Champion Awards recognizing organizations committed to specialty nursing excellence are open now. Hospital-based and freestanding emergency departments, trauma centers, health systems, and flight and ground transport programs may apply.
- World’s First Burn Nursing Specialty Certification Now Available - October 26, 2023
- BCEN’s Critical Care Ground Transport Nursing Certification Earns Accreditation - August 18, 2023
- BCEN’s Certified Flight Registered Nurse Credential Turns 30 - July 11, 2023