``Nurses are the patient's caregiver, advocate, support group, and the physician's eyes, ears and soul,'' says Dr. Bruce Phillip Krieger.

And last week, for being all that and more, nurses at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach received their profession's highest recognition -- a national award for excellence of service.

``I've been in nursing for 19 years,'' said Amalia Eisenberg, an advanced registered nurse practitioner at Mount Sinai. ``It's so nice to be recognized for the work you do with love.''

The prestigious Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services award, given by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in Washington D.C., is the highest level of recognition the center gives to nursing programs in health care organizations.

The award was presented to Mount Sinai nurses during National Nurses Week. Dressed in white lab coats or aqua-green uniforms, nurses from Mount Sinai and Miami Heart Institute, an arm of Mount Sinai, filled an auditorium at Miami Heart to receive their pins for exemplary nursing services and patient care.

``It's a journey in excellence care,'' says Jeanne Floyd, executive director of the credentialing center. ``The hospital receives the designation for a four-year period.''

The award is not easy to get. Interested organizations must file an application and about a year , a site visit is made to assess the organization. A commission from the ANCC reviews all standards of care in the hospital before making a designation. The commission then ensures the same standards are being enforced over the four-year period.

Among the criteria are: excellence in meeting nursing standards and patient care; low mortality; a decrease in patient falls, injury and bedsores; and the ability of the nursing team to work together under strong leadership.

``The nursing staff, of which there is a dire shortage, is the largest body of staff in a health care group,'' says Floyd. ``Once this group is strong and united, it has a ripple effect that affects other colleagues in the organization and community.''

To date in the 5-year-old credentialing program, 34 health care organizations nationwide hold the Magnet recognition for excellence in nursing services. Three of those are in South Florida: Mount Sinai, Baptist Hospital of Miami in Kendall, and West Boca Medical Center in Boca Raton.

Dr. Krieger, president of the medical staff at Mount Sinai and Miami Heart, says the award is well-deserved.

``The emotional support and teamwork required of nurses is crucial,'' Krieger says. ``I see incredible things nurses do on a daily basis. They save people's lives and deal with emotional issues.''

Eisenberg, 43, who was born in the Philippines, says nursing was in her blood from a young age.

``I knew I wanted to be a nurse in high school,'' she says. ``All I've ever wanted to do was make a difference with every patient under my care. I've formed long-lasting relationships with some of them.''

Eisenberg remembers the case of Stephania Desiré, a 27-year-old woman who was under her care. The patient had undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor. During morning rounds, Eisenberg said she noticed the patient was lethargic.

``I immediately told the other nurses to get her to C.A.T. scan and called the neurosurgeon on duty,'' Eisenberg says.

It turned out the patient had hydrocephalus -- water in the brain -- and was immediately taken into a second surgery to drain the water, she says.

Recently, the patient sent Eisenberg an invitation to her wedding. The two have a special bond and continue to keep in touch.

``Nurse Amalia was great,'' says Desiré, a therapist in a substance abuse center. ``She made it seem like a vacation with all her tender loving care.''

``The profession is an art as well as a science,'' says Charlene Welker, a registered nurse practitioner who is vice president and chief nursing officer at Mount Sinai and Miami Heart. ``It's a hard thing to master the two philosophies -- art and science. Most people don't realize how difficult it can be.

On the one hand a nurse must be in command of her clinical expertise, but on the other she must administer it with tender loving care under the most trying conditions.''

But according to a national survey released by the Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, one in five current nurses expects to leave the profession within the next five years because ofhigh stress, irregular hours, low morale and not enough nurses on staff.

According to the American Nurses Association, there is a ``looming'' shortage of nurses that may soon reach crisis proportions as the nation's aging baby boom population begins placing greater demands on the U.S. health care system. The survey reported 56 percent of nurses felt their time available for direct patient care had decreased, and 75 percent believed the quality of nursing care has declined within the past two years.

There is legislation in the works to address the emerging nursing shortage -- the Nurse Reinvestment Act and the Patient Safety Act.

``The health care industry as a whole is being negatively buffeted by funds, salaries, insurance companies, policies, Medicare, and Medicaid,'' says Krieger. ``Everybody is feeling it.''

Krieger says the recognition of the nurses in the Magnet program at Mount Sinai is a major turning point in the hospital's ongoing battle to attract and retain the best nurses. The Magnet award, he says, appropriately places the nursing staff at a higher level than most of the hospitals in the area.

``A nurse's role is multifactorial. It goes to the essence of healing,'' Krieger says.