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Discussion

Does the MAGNET system work?

We have heard for years about the MAGNET recognition. Is this system working? Are working conditions in these facilities any better than anywhere else?

I would love to get some feedback from particularly med-surg and tele nurses, since this data is not available for review.

Featured Replies

I don't think it makes much of a difference to the bedside nurses at all, except it increased my paperwork, meeting attendance, and other things that I could have lived without. That being said, I do love the place I work, flaws and all, so being or not being Magnet is irrelevant. I know that our patients for the most part have no clue what Magnet means, and couldn't care less as long as they are well cared for. I also know that our management touts that message as if it were the only selling point we have. But as far as has it changed our care, role, or philosophy as nurses, not at my place of employment. Hope this helped.

It's a nice concept, but for all the things it's added to my daily routine to try and care for patients...they should take the hourly pay they have to dish out to us and hire more nurses with it. Seriously.

We pointed out to our Magnet Surveyors that many of the components that made us a successful magnet candidate were actually advances that we had to fight for in our union contract. -- paid time for unit based councils that worked on practice and work life issues (not decor and parties) paid ed time, paid meeting time, nurse practice committee, STAFFING LEGISLATION -- yeah Washington --safe Lifting legislation. But if keeping the designation will motivate the Hospital to maintain those programs it will be a better thing.

  • Experts

The Magnet accreditation has, unfortunately, played out over time like lots of other "honorary"-type designations. It was originally designed and intended by the ANCC to recognize the limited number of hospitals that actually were (already, of their own free will) providing an outstanding working environment for nurses. As time went on and hospitals realized they could use this designation as a marketing tool (and notice how many hospitals advertise that they are "Magnet" hospitals as if the designation refers to better patient care), many hospitals started working on meeting (just) the minimum standards to get the designation -- even if many of the improvements they made were only temporary, solely for the purpose of getting the Magnet designation, and even if they were still basically lousy employers. At this point, I think the Magnet designation is pretty much a joke -- for any given hospital/employer, it might mean something, it might not. You certainly can't depend on the designation meaning that the facility is a good work environment for nurses.

  • Experts

I agree with elkpark. The underlying principles of the Magnet program are excellent -- promoting excellence in patient care and also in providing a work environment good enough to attract and retain the best nurses.

However ... there is no guarantee that a specific employer will actually embrace those principles deep in its "soul" and will continue to act in the spirit of those principles when no one (e.g. the Magnet reviewers) is looking.

I do believe there is an overall positive trend in Magnet hospitals ... but whether or not that trend can be seen/felt on any particular unit in any particular hospital is up to each person to assess on a case-by-case basis.

The magnet facility in our system is bleeding red ink, and the system administration is desperately carving up other facilities to keep it's "magnet" afloat. Everyone sees it as a meaningless designation, more a marketing tool than anything else.

I agree it has not made much difference at the bedside for us. My hospital received it's magnet designation last year. Nothing has changed for me.

  • Guides

Don't hospitals pay a lot on the "journey to magnetism"?

Magnet, schmagnet.

Yes the $$ involved to get Magnet designation are large. It is like paying JCAHO IMHO. None of it is spent in increasing pay or benefits for the staff.

not where I work. It's all what is put on paper, and we all know that is just fluff. There are more nurses who are on committees and special teams, blah blah blah, just to get recognition and move up - not taking better care of any patients.

  • Author
Don't hospitals pay a lot on the "journey to magnetism"?

They sure do!

Seems they are willing to invest in everything BUT proper staffing levels. Like most politically charged things, we are penny wise and pound foolish.

Better to spend 10 million dollars on computerized communication systems which need constant repair and periodic upgrading than to invest in people who are doing the job. If they had their way, nursing would be done robotically.

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