A poll, regarding nurses' opinions on Magnet status

Published

  1. Does Magnet designation influence your opinion of a facility as a workplace?

    • 22
      Yes, it makes it MORE desirable
    • 20
      Yes, it makes it LESS desirable
    • 66
      No, it doesn't influence my opinion in any way
    • 0
      Obligatory other

108 members have participated

Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

This is not a formal research study, I'm just curious about the prevailing attitude of nurses, and what better place to ask than the meeting ground of 100K nurses?

So my manager mentioned to me the other day about how our facility is in the process of obtaining Magnet status. I then mentioned that I'm actually writing a paper about it for my program. I gave my opinion about Magnet designation, and I could tell by her expression that I was blaspheming.

It seems to me that hospital administration and executives seem to care a lot about Magnet status, but plain ol' nurses, for whom the designation was originally supposed to benefit, don't seem to care.

In research for my paper, I learned that less than 7% of facilities in the US have Magnet designation, and only about 3% have redesignation. That's per the ANCC. Of course, they do not share in their stats how many facilities APPLY for Magnet status. And I'm wondering if the lower REdesignation rate is due to how stringent their guidelines are, or due to the realization after the fact by facilities that it's not worth it and they drop out of the program.

So my question to you, my fellow nurses (please, nurses only): does the fact that a hospital has Magnet status influence your opinion of the facility as a place to work?

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I work at a magnet hospital, and it has no impact on my opinion of the facility (I have a pretty poor opinion of my facility). If I change jobs, magnet status will have no influence on which facilities I apply to.

I am of the opinion that "magnet" is really just a buzz word. I wish the hospital I worked at spent less time and money working on retaining its status, and put more effort into improving the work environment and patient care.

I currently work in a CVICU, and am very proud of the care we are able to provide for our patients. But this is because we are kind of the "star" unit. Administration uses it as a bragging point, and frequently give visitors tours of the CVICU and exclude every other inpatient area of the hospital. So we get a lot more money on our budget, and our patient satisfaction scores are nearly perfect every month.

I've worked in another area of the hospital, and although we did our absolute best, the care was subpar. The patients, nurses, and even hospitalists there are treated like second class citizens. In my current unit, we have maybe one person quit a year, and it's never due to job dissatisfaction. Everywhere else, it's probably safe to say about half the nursing staff changes each year.

I don't know if the magnet thing makes it better or worse, but I do know that being a magnet hospital doesn't make it a good place to work.

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Specializes in CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.

I find the designation meaningless in today's environment. All it does is add strain to the nursing force in the hospital while not providing real world benefit to the individual nurse. Ratios still suck, pay is still subpar and now they force nurses to go for their BSN (a good thing except they don't pay for it in most hospitals).

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There are less than a few patients who will choose to go out of their way when they are sick to "go to a magnet hospital".

A feather in the cap of the administration, the illusion that nurses "govern themselves" which is the biggest crock out there...

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Being on the policy and administration side of things (working with hospitals but not at any one in particular) I can honestly tell you that hospitals with Magnet status do operate differently and are overall better organized and have better policies.

I was just at a meeting this week where all the Magnet hospitals in my state met together and developed minimal standards for central line care to decrease infections. Now mind you, everyone had different policies but they developed a minimal standard for several categories that everyone had to achieve. It was very impressive to see what they had done.

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Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

I currently work at the bedside in a Magnet hospital in the critical care unit.

This hospital has one of the lowest nurse turnover rate in the state and I have no problem in helping maintain that rate.

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Specializes in L&D.

I just accepted a job at a magnet hospital. I've never worked at one before and I'm excited.

It seems like a great hospital and there seems to be low turnover on my new unit which is a good sign.

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Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.

The hospital I work at has magnet status and it had NO bearing on my choice to work there. (Another hospital in the general area is trying to get magnet status and I wouldn't advise my worst enemy to work there, it's so bad). I chose to apply at the facility I work at because they have a low turn over rate for nurses, nurse managers take care of their staff and it's an excellent hospital all around. They can lose their magnet designation (3rd, btw) and it wouldn't change a thing. It's just a good place to work and IMHO, a big part of that is that management actually listens to staff and staff work to make it a good place to be.

My pay may not be the highest in the area (and it's not the lowest) but I would rather make a couple of bucks less an hour base (we have the highest shift and weekend rations in my area)and work with a good team than to work somewhere that I make more money but have no support from anyone. And before anyone says anything: We have our share of problems but at least on my unit most of us feel like those issues are being addressed)

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I live in an area where there are several Magnet facilities, including two large health systems. I have worked for three of them and have seen the model at work; however, people are people are people, and whether it not it affects the workplace is relative.

If system and philosophy is upheld and carried out successfully and consistently, it will produce better outcomes and satisfaction, and that can be at any place, whether it be a family company to a teaching Magnet facility, in my experience.

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Specializes in Inpatient Oncology/Public Health.

I've said this before, but I have worked at both a Magnet and non Magnet hospital and the Magnet was far worse in almost every way. It was not a good place to work as a nurse. And I feared for patient safety and outcomes.

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Being on the policy and administration side of things (working with hospitals but not at any one in particular) I can honestly tell you that hospitals with Magnet status do operate differently and are overall better organized and have better policies.

I was just at a meeting this week where all the Magnet hospitals in my state met together and developed minimal standards for central line care to decrease infections. Now mind you, everyone had different policies but they developed a minimal standard for several categories that everyone had to achieve. It was very impressive to see what they had done.

Are activities like this required at all magnet institutions? I'm sure there are others, but the only magnet requirement I'm aware if is that a certain percentage of nurses must have a BSN.

At my hospital, the only thing I really see changing is which website they're going to block. At one point, I couldn't even use google.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

No, there are a LOT more requirements/expectations than just the BSN thing.

Magnet Recognition Program® Model

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