Food for Thought: Opinions on Magnet Status Facilities

rn/writer, RN · May 16, 2010

I work at a Magnet hospital. The down side is that we have more required educational assignments (although some additions have come from JCAHO or state). The up side is that mandating nurses to stay an extra four hours due to short staffing has become a thing of the past.

From what I have been able to gather, some hospitals treat Magnet status like crossing a finish line that means the effort is over and now it's back to business as usual. This is kind of like the old example of taking the toys and nice food and clothing away from the kids after the inspectors have left the orphanage.

Others, my hospital among them, realize that you work darn hard to achieve the goal so you might as well maintain the high standards. You have to re-certify in three years anyway.

The difference between these two attitudes has a lot to do with the values of the facility (and any parent corporations) before the Magnet attempt.

I wish you the best in finding a good job at a good facility (Magnet or not).

kbok · May 18, 2010

i've worked at magnet hospitals and non magnet hospitals.

my opinion is that there is more red tape, regulations, rules, education, policies and etc for magnet hospitals. sometimes it means more documentation, but then again, i've also done a lot of documentation at non magnet hospitals.

at both magnet hospitals i worked at, they were very large hospitals that had lots of resources and great funding. so then i associated magnet = good resources/support funding.

whereas the non magnet hospital i worked for was a smaller hospital- but in all honesty, my experience there was just as good (if not better) than my experience at a magnet hospital. because there happened to be less resources and staffing, then i automatically had to be more independent and my learning curve was exponentially higher because i had to take on more responsibility than if i had been at a better staffed hospital where i probably wouldn't have had as much responsibility.

now if there are small hospitals that are magnet status, then that would completely throw my experience off balance, meaning magnet doesn't mean large, well funded hospital.

in your job search, i'd apply for both, but would instead recommend you base your decision on your particular nurse manager and the support of the unit, and see if that fits what you're looking for. i dont think magnet criteria is all that special, in my opinion.

FutureNurse1016 · May 18, 2010

Thank you for both your posts.

kbok: I appreciate hearing your experiences and your suggestion of basing my decision off of the nurse manager and the support of the unit to see if that fits what I'm looking for.

When I raised this question during my leadership course to a professor of mine, who happens to be a nurse manager at a magnet status facility, she did not want to open up a discussion regarding this.

elkpark · May 18, 2010

There are good and bad Magnet hospitals, and good and bad non-Magnet hospitals. Unfortunately, you can no longer assume much about a hospital simply because it has Magnet status.

The ANCC originally created the Magnet designation to reward/recognize the limited number of US hospitals that were already making the effort to provide a great working environment for nurses, and encourage other hospitals to strive for the same kind of environment. However, once hospitals figured out that they could use the "Magnet" designation as a marketing tool (and notice how many of them advertise this as if the Magnet designation is about great client care, rather than a positive, healthy working environment for nurses (although, obviously, there is some connection between the two)), hospitals that are not particularly good employers for nurses have started jumping through the hoops and (temporarily) going through the motions necessary to at least appear to meet the Magnet standards in order to get accredited, and then promptly returning to "business as usual" (i.e., screwing over the nursing staff) once they've gotten it. I currently work prn in a "Magnet" facility, and the idea that this place is a positive working environment for nurses is a cruel joke. :rolleyes:

IMHO, the Magnet designation actually meant something in its early days, but now it's become just another meaningless, purchased credential (and the ANCC is complicit in this because it's a big money-maker for the ANCC). Also, there are hospitals that are great employers/environments for nurses, but choose not to spend the (significant amount of) money and go through the hassle necessary to get the designation. That doesn't mean there aren't Magnet hospitals that are great hospitals -- just that you can't assume that's the case when you see the Magnet designation. You have to look deeper than that.

Annaiya, NP · May 19, 2010

I'm really surprised your instructor didn't want to discuss the magnet program, we have projects in two separate classes in school where we have to learn about/discuss the magnet recognition program. I would not take what that blog said too seriously because the AACN recently made some significant changed to the program that is supposed to be more outcome based results. I currently work at a magnet hospital and I think it has a wonderful work culture for nurses, however it is hard to know how much of that is attributed to the magnet designation. One thing I will say, is the organization has to provide nurses with channels to have a voice in the orgnization, if the facility doesn't want nurses with that sort of power, they won't do it. The last organization I was at considered going for the designation but then decided against it. While I think the cost was partly why, there were rumors that they didn't want to give nurses that much say in the organization. There isn't any absolute on it, but I know I considered the designation when I looked for jobs.

carachel2 · May 20, 2010

My recent experience with the ANCC is that it's all about the $$. Any hospital that pays the $$ can attain magnet status. Have we ever really heard about a hospital FAILING magnet status????

llg, PhD, RN · May 20, 2010

My recent experience with the ANCC is that it's all about the $$. Any hospital that pays the $$ can attain magnet status. Have we ever really heard about a hospital FAILING magnet status????

Oh, yeah. I have known of several hospitals that have failed to achieve Magnet -- after going on the muliti-year journey, paying the money, and submitting all their documentation. It's far from automatic.

I've heard of other hospitals losing their Magnet status after having achieved it -- in other words, failing on their attempts to be re-certified when they were up for review (every 4 years).