I found this interesting. One of this regions largest health system's flagship hospital has dropped it's Magnet certification. They have been certified since 2004 and was the first hospital in the state, outside the state capital, to recive Magent certification. They have a reputation of being an early adopter of technology and practice changes.
They have been struggling with profitability the last 3-4 years and have layed off around 200 people across the system, including all of their clinical nurse specialists and a bunch of managers.
Cost savings is the reason given to staff. Bedside nurses are pretty much indifferent and the public doesn't seem to know or care that they had a Magnet hospital in their town.
I wonder if this is an isolated case or if it will be a trend, or partial trend.
*** The irony of that is that Magnet hospitals have become the least desirable employers of last resort for lots of RNs, in particular my ICU, transport and ER friends.
Why are they the least desired in your area? In my (?) experience / investigating magnet hospitals have lower nurse to pt ratios then the non magnet ones in the same area. As a med surg nurse that is the first thing I think of when looking for a new job
We had one hospital in Syracuse, that had magnet status, they have since lost the certification. They continue to have heart surgeons that are well known, and it's the hospital my parents go to if the need arises. No difference when they had it, or now.
One of the hospitals I work at is magnet and the other one is applying for it. In terms of nurse to patient ratio, I have witnessed on multiple occasions, med-surge nurses having up to seven (!) patients. That is not safe in my book.
I'd rather work at a place with safe ratios, regardless of its "magnet" status (which is all about prestige...it really doesn't positively affect the quality of care).
Ha magnet. Its up there on the list of pointless, pat yourself on the back programs like Studer, AIDET, etc etc.
My take out of AIDET wasn't pat-yourself-on-the-back... it was, "bad nurses... you need to hug your customers and be sure to let them know how much you appreciate their choice to abuse you rather than the nurses across town."
And I notice that the docs aren't doing AIDET... and yet they have immense power over the customer's experience.
Many hospitals are rethinking magnet status due to costs.
Understand this.
As has been stated, "Magnet" was primarily a promotion for nurses. The failure to carry it over as a successful message for the public means it's no longer a viable investment.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Magnet isn't a big deal in my area, so educate please. All I know is a magnet hospitals prefers all BSN nurses.
*** That is by no means a universal thing. It is true that the same kind of thinking among managment that likes things like Magnet will also be the same type of person who prefers to hire only BSNs. Lots of Magnet hospitals hire ADNs and a few even prefer them.
Why is this hospital dropping the status? Does it cost money to start and stay in the program?
*** YES! Magnet is a very expensive program.
Why lay off nurses?
*** The laying off of nurses is a symptom of a tight butget, as was the decision to drop Magnet.
If they have to keep the status, why is care deteriorating? You would think it would be the opposite.
*** They don't need to keep the status. There is no reason for a hospital to be Magnet unless nursing administration wants to be. Lots of Magnet hospitals were not very good to begin with but managed to slap a fresh coat of paint on thier problems enough to satisfy the Magnet survayors. For example I remeber being shocked to walk into my unit during survay to find our unit, usually staffed 1/2 to 2/3 travelers, fully (overly) staffed with regular employees, many on over time. We were also handed 3x5 cards with likely survayors questions on them and the managment approved answer we were to give, along with threats of what would happen to any nurses who answered honestly rather than giving the "approved" answer.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Why are they the least desired in your area? In my (?) experience / investigating magnet hospitals have lower nurse to pt ratios then the non magnet ones in the same area. As a med surg nurse that is the first thing I think of when looking for a new job
*** It may well be the case the case that the hospitals that have lower ratios are also Magnet. However the two aren't really related. I have worked at two hospitals that went through their "Journy to Magnet". During the run up to certification ratios were lowered and the units staffed better. That, and many other things, went away as soon as Magnet was achieved.
The reason they are employers of last resort for me and many of my friends is poor staffing, tyranical and abusive managment, often unsafe working conditions, low pay and poor benifits.
As has been stated, "Magnet" was primarily a promotion for nurses. The failure to carry it over as a successful message for the public means it's no longer a viable investment.
Which is about where 90% of our problems as a profession lie. The other 100% is with the patients thinking they are always right.
tokmom, BSN, RN
4,568 Posts
Magnet isn't a big deal in my area, so educate please. All I know is a magnet hospitals prefers all BSN nurses.
Why is this hospital dropping the status? Does it cost money to start and stay in the program? Why lay off nurses?
If they have to keep the status, why is care deteriorating? You would think it would be the opposite.
I find this interesting. A few hospitals, I have heard in the rumor mill, are considering Magnet, but nothing has been done.
Thanks ahead for the insight.
I want to hear the nitty gritty from real nurses, not read the magnet BS on the web.