Magnet Designation

Fribblet · Dec 6, 2011

If hospitals spent the same amount of time and money they waste getting magnet status, to actually improve working conditions, care would improve, and happy nurses make happy patients. Word spreads fast. They wouldn't even have to spend money advertising.

I know, after going through (and getting) the process of magnet designation with my current employer, I will be avoiding magnet hospitals from here on out. It's a sign that the hospital cares more about PR than nursing. What a waste of time and money.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Dec 6, 2011

Magnet designation exists for three reasons:
1-For an additional PR marketing tool for the hospital.
2-A way for the ANCC to rake in piles of cash.
3-For management to engage in a self-congratulatory circle jerk while staff nurses are overburdened with additional paperwork, the same ****** working conditions, and remain as the facility's go to scapegoat.
Discuss.

Pretty much sums it up. Magnet is a joke and, IMO, one of the greatest scams in Nursing. :uhoh3:

ICURN35 · Dec 6, 2011

My facility was recently designated by the ANCC as a Pathways to Excellence hospital. So what is the difference between this designation and Magnet status?

Fribblet · Dec 6, 2011

My facility was recently designated by the ANCC as a Pathways to Excellence hospital. So what is the difference between this designation and Magnet status?

How much cash your facility is willing to pony up. That's my cynical response anyway.

Per the ANCC website, a Pathways to Excellence facility "is earned by healthcare organizations that create work environments where nurses can excel in their practice. The designation substantiates the professional satisfaction of nurses and identifies best places to work."

A Magnet facility can demonstrate (on paper, not in practice mind you) that they have quality patient care, excellence in nursing and are "advancing" nursing practice.

llg, PhD, RN · Dec 6, 2011

Think of the "Pathways to Excellence" program as "Magnet-lite." It was a program started in Texas as a way for hosptials to show that they were good hospitals to work for. ANCC bought them out a few years ago -- probably because they were provided a viable alternative for hospitals looking for some sort of credential. So now, ANCC owns both programs.

Rob72, ASN, RN · Dec 6, 2011

Ya'll forgot one: Money for Universities. AFIK, every U-affiliated hospital in the country is Maggot, oops, Magnet. Gotta have some jobs for the BSNs they keep cranking out... :rolleyes:

Imafloat, BSN, RN · Dec 6, 2011

I truly believe Magnet is a way administration can pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

The patients can't even tell the difference between, housekeeping, nursing, respiratory, even doctors, do you think they understand what magnet status is.

Fribblet · Dec 6, 2011

I truly believe Magnet is a way administration can pat themselves on the back for a job well done.
The patients can't even tell the difference between, housekeeping, nursing, respiratory, even doctors, do you think they understand what magnet status is.

Absolutely not. They just know this hospital is CERTA-FRIED! So it must be good.

Now tell that nurse to move her perky ass to the cafeteria and gimme a sammich.

Fribblet · Dec 6, 2011

Ya'll forgot one: Money for Universities. AFIK, every U-affiliated hospital in the country is Maggot, oops, Magnet. Gotta have some jobs for the BSNs they keep cranking out...

I'm going to have to check that out. That would quite an interesting tid-bit of information.

Although my hospital just received Magnet shat-us, and we're an University affiliated hospital.

Rob72, ASN, RN · Dec 6, 2011

I'm going to have to check that out. That would quite an interesting tid-bit of information.
Although my hospital just received Magnet shat-us, and we're an University affiliated hospital.

Logical corollary: if the BSN is The Standard, and if it should be required, how can a U affiliate not be Magnet? If 4 year schools wish to maintain their enrollment and programs, how do they most effectively combat the attractive pricing and relative time demands of the CC ADN/ASN programs?

AJPV · Dec 6, 2011

I'm just waiting for a community college to have the guts to rigorously analyze the statistical methods employed by the BSN-only lobbyists who insist that BSN-"prepared" graduates are safer nurses. There seems to be some glaring conflicts of interest when the very people who stand to gain the most financially (the "universities") are the ones conducting these studies and lobbying their state boards to require BSN. I have a sneaking suspicion that some of these studies employ selection bias and other statistical fallacies. I wonder if they include BSN bridge program graduates (who have years of nursing experience) in their pool of "BSN grads" when they arrive at their conclusion that BSN grads are safer.

Fribblet · Dec 6, 2011

I'm just waiting for a community college to have the guts to rigorously analyze the statistical methods employed by the BSN-only lobbyists who insist that BSN-"prepared" graduates are safer nurses. There seems to be some glaring conflicts of interest when the very people who stand to gain the most financially (the "universities") are the ones conducting these studies and lobbying their state boards to require BSN. I have a sneaking suspicion that some of these studies employ selection bias and other statistical fallacies. I wonder if they include BSN bridge program graduates (who have years of nursing experience) in their pool of "BSN grads" when they arrive at their conclusion that BSN grads are safer.

Lobby or no lobby, with the economy in shambles and more and more people trying to get into this "recession-proof" job, employers have the upper hand. Why, then, would you not hire a bachelors prepared nurse at the same price?

More effective/safe/whatever or not, the perception among employers AND the public is: more education = better.

As a result, the BSN will inadvertently become the standard, while the ADN replaces the LPN in the hospital setting. Overall, I don't think this is the outcome of a carefully constructed plot by the BSN only crowd. But, that this is the "invisible hand" of the free market at work.

Thanks to the ****** economy, employers are able to (at least in my area) pay BSN prepared nurses LPN wages. Lucky them!