For those of you employed at magnets, is there a noticeable difference in the treatment of nurses? How about nursing students?

I received two offers of employment (non-nursing) - one hospital is a magnet and the other is not. I'm only a student and will not graduate until May, 2005, but the magnet hospital made a point of telling me how they promote from within and that they'd eventually want to keep me there after graduation. Thanks!

Originally posted by KristinWW

For those of you employed at magnets, is there a noticeable difference in the treatment of nurses? How about nursing students?

I received two offers of employment (non-nursing) - one hospital is a magnet and the other is not. I'm only a student and will not graduate until May, 2005, but the magnet hospital made a point of telling me how they promote from within and that they'd eventually want to keep me there after graduation. Thanks!

Yes, I think there is a noticiable difference at a Magnet hospital, but more importantly you want to work at a Union hospital.

Magnet hospitals have gone the extra mileage and money to obtain the Magnet and they can also lose the Magnet just as easily if complaints are forwarded. They also require resite visits every 3 years to recertify for Magnet. Magnet is ALL about the staff, look at this:

The "magnet hospital" studies (McClure, Poulin, Sovie, & Wandelt, 1983) identified a core set of values associated with professional nursing practice. The researchers looked at three of these important factors for a professional practice environment; nurse autonomy, control over practice, and relationship with physicians. In addition, other organizational attributes measured were teamwork and cooperation, importance of hierarchy, and visible nursing leadership. Survey questions also addressed the importance of the need for greater clarity in describing and standardizing work practices. The researchers studied nurse burnout using the emotional exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which is considered a valid and reliable measure of this condition. (Maslach & Jackson, 1981).

Visit this website for more info on Magnet:

http://www.nursingworld.org/ancc/magnet/benes.html

I think it depends on the individual hospitals. Some hospitals may be of "equal quality" to the maget hospitals but have chosen not to pay all the money and jump through all the hoops for the official designation.

Intepreting the magnet hospital research findings has the same complexities as does interpreting any other research findings. While the "average" level of the outcome measures was higher for the magnet hospitals than other hospitals, there is overlap.

This type of thing is common in most research studies and we have to keep it in mind. An easy way to think of it is to remember that statistically, men are taller and weigh more than women. That doesn't mean that every woman is shorter and lighter than every man.

In the end, you have to evaluate the individual hospitals that you are considering. The generalizations of the research studies can only clue you in as to what types of questions to ask. That's true for almost any research.

llg

Thanks for the website. I know our facility has applied for Magnet status and we have been asked to submit an anonymous survey regarding the application. I am looking forward to having the opportunity to do this.

I agree with lee1; I would choose a facility with a nursing union.

Paula

How do I find out if there is a union at each hospital?