FORT COLLINS — The American Nurses Association has awarded Poudre Valley Hospital with its top honor for nurses' achievements in patient care and safety for the fifth consecutive year.

The nurses association presented the Award for Outstanding Nursing Quality to the hospital at a conference Thursday in Las Vegas. The association based the honor on a database used to validate the quality of nursing care nationwide and in local hospitals, according to Poudre Valley Health System.

About 1,400 hospitals use the database to improve nursing services, patient safety and other areas of care. Nursing units also can compare their performance to similar units at other hospitals nationwide.

As an example, the hospital has gone more than 900 days without an occurrence of pneumonia in intensive care unit patients using ventilators to facilitate breathing.

"This is a remarkable accomplishment directly resulting from the carefully exacting work that our nurses do to maintain high-quality patient care," Donna Poduska, the hospital's chief nursing officer, said in a statement.

Employing more than 1,000 registered nurses, the hospital was the first to receive the honor when it was created in 2008. It is also the only hospital to receive the award.