Newswise — The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) has been honored with six awards for excellence in publishing from three separate organizations.

The Western Publishing Association — which bestows annual awards to individuals and companies whose work is deemed “Best in the West” in a wide variety of publishing categories — presented its Maggie Award for “Best Signed Editorial or Essay/Trade” to AACN’s American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC) for its March 2013 editorial "How Much Care Is Too Much Care?" Lead author Richard Savel, MD, examined how a feeling of providing inappropriate care makes it difficult to attract and keep the highest-quality practitioners.

The American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors (ASHPE) recently honored AACN with both silver and bronze awards. ASHPE — which annually recognizes excellence and achievement in the field of healthcare publishing — presented AACN’s Critical Care Nurse (CCN) with a silver award for its “Ask the Experts” department (June, August, October 2013) in the “Best Regular Department” category. AJCC picked up a bronze award in the “Best Peer-Reviewed Journal” category for its July, September and November 2013 issues.

CCN also fared well in the 26th annual Apex Awards for Publication Excellence, an annual competition for publishers, editors, writers and designers who create print, Web, electronic materials and social media. CCN received an award of excellence both for “Best Redesign” and for the April 2013 article “Aortic Stenosis: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Medical Management of Nonsurgical Patients,” in the “Health & Medical Writing” category. This article reviewed normal aortic valve anatomy and function, and discussed the signs, symptoms and physical examination findings associated with aortic stenosis and nursing considerations for patients with aortic stenosis.

AACN received an additional Apex Award for “Magazine Series” for NTI Voices, a daily publication produced in conjunction with SLACK Incorporated for AACN’s 2013 National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition (NTI).

Print and online subscriptions to AJCC and CCN are benefits of AACN membership. Individual and institutional journal subscriptions are also available. Subscription information is available at www.aacn.org/publications.

About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: Founded in 1969 and based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. AACN joins together the interests of more than 500,000 acute and critical care nurses and claims more than 235 chapters worldwide. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme