Are magnet hospitals really better?

steelcityrn, RN · Feb 17, 2007

I do not believe they are. The hospital near me that was designated magnet is no way as good as some others. Talking to nurses that work for the magnet hospital, they feel they were wined and dined to help the hospital obtain this title. Talk to them now, its still about forced overtime and short staffing. Wasted money each year on re-doing cafe's, lobbies, entrance carpets and tile, changing toilets and sinks,but very little to design better medication rooms, better design on the floors for those who have to walk it a hundred times a week, and many other items that could make it better for the staff.

willie03 · Feb 17, 2007

I do not believe they are. The hospital near me that was designated magnet is no way as good as some others. Talking to nurses that work for the magnet hospital, they feel they were wined and dined to help the hospital obtain this title. Talk to them now, its still about forced overtime and short staffing. Wasted money each year on re-doing cafe's, lobbies, entrance carpets and tile, changing toilets and sinks,but very little to design better medication rooms, better design on the floors for those who have to walk it a hundred times a week, and many other items that could make it better for the staff.

Thanks for your response.

My hospital is in the early stages of seeking magnet status. We are being told this will be better for us and raise the awareness and status of nursing in our community. We are told that nurses want to work at magnet hospitals, hence the term magnet. So is it more of a PR magnet to attract more patients, rather than attracting nurses to work? We are told that Magnet hospitals have better patient care. I think that our patient care is excellent already. I know there is always room for improvement, but are we going to be trying to fix things that aren't broken. I would like to hear more from others.

leesespieces · Feb 17, 2007

i used to work at a large teaching hospital in a metropolitan area and was employed there when we became magnet certified. i noticed no difference before & after. i worked as a cna (i'll be an rn in 3 months) on a high-acuity med/surg and pulmonary stepdown unit. it was very common for me to have anywhere from 7- 14 patients and there was more than once i was alone as a cna, having 28 patients (and 6 are vent patients)!!!!!!!

the nurses complained of the same issues, having to take 7 floor patients at times and 4-6 vents, possibly with additional floor patients, and we had a lot of r/o tb's and mrsa, c-diff, esbl,....it was isolation city!! all the while people were quitting left and right and no one was being hired to replace them. management blew off the staff's concerns. they managed to afford installing new stained glass windows, repainting the entire interior, cater out all sorts of food for staff meetings but it "wasn't in the budget" to hire new staff. the patient's complained all the time that no one was there when they needed something and they never got their meds on time. now i know these are common complaints....but these patient's were fully justified!!

i feel nothing was done to improve quality assurance after the magnet certification. when i started the employee satisfaction scores on my unit were less than 3%. the next 2 years showed no dramatic improvement...and no changes were made. needless to say, i no longer work there.

i know that healthcare is in a huge mess these days....but this is ridiculous. and that's what i think of magnet status!!!!!!!!!