The Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design (NIHD; Saint Cloud, Minn.) and The DAISY Foundation (Glen Ellen, Calif.) presented Tara Jernigan, nurse executive at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, (NGMC; Gainesville, Ga.) with the 2025 DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Leader in Healthcare Design.
Now in its second year, the award was presented during the 2025 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in Kansas City, Mo., held Oct. 25-28. The award is given to extraordinary nurses who are actively engaged in healthcare design, including as consultants, assistants, and advisors.
Jernigan was nominated for her role as a consultant on an expansion project at NGMC, which included helping to facilitate full-scale mockups of inpatient and emergency department rooms.
As part of that effort, she coordinated feedback from more than 100 bedside nurses on aspects such as footwall workspace and nurse servers. She also engaged with community members to champion the project during various advisory council sessions and tours of the construction mockup.
More coverage of the 2025 HCD Conference + Expo will be featured in Healthcare Design’s November/December issue. For more conference new and updates, go here.
