Magnet Redux

As the journey continues, hospitals with prestigious designation in the Northeast have no regrets

Advance for Nurses—February 15, 2011

The Magnet Recognition Program credential is a coveted, but hard won, achievement for many hospitals. The program requires volumes of documentation that take months to collect. It demands consistent attention to all nursing issues, constant vigilance of patient satisfaction and patient outcomes, a concerted effort to keep nursing enthusiasm fired up at all times, to say nothing of dipping into hospital pocketbooks for Magnet registration fees.

And unlike many accolades, once you achieve it, you don't rest on your laurels. You immediately plunge in and begin the process all over again to earn redesignation.

So why, in the past 20 years, have 378 hospitals across the U.S. sought and achieved Magnet status, a certification conferred by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to hospitals that demonstrate excellence in nursing practice?

In speaking to several facilities, many of which boast Magnet firsts in their city or states, Hospital for Special Surgery's Stephanie Goldberg, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, sums it up. "It is absolutely worth doing. It gives clarity to what is important to nurses and patients. And it provides me with a framework to do my job," said the senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer of the 172-bed facility, which was the first in Manhattan to receive Magnet in 2002.

Hospital for Special Surgery made a decision in 2009 to hire only nurses with bachelor's degrees as a minimum, according to Goldberg. "We also offer very good tuition reimbursement for nurses to get advanced degrees."

This story originally appeared at nursing.advanceweb.com.