Magnet designated hospital--anyone work at one?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ER, ICU, PACU, Corrections, cardiac.

The hospital I have worked at for 20 years is attempting to become "Magnet" certified (accredited?). They keep saying that a Magnet hospital is a place where nurses want to work. I'm not so sure. We have been on this "journey" for a couple years. All I've seen it do is make people mad. Now we find out that all new nurses being hired must have a BSN. So all the people who are in nursing school now and will graduate this May with their ASN will not have a job even though they may have worked for the hospital for several years and are attending school on employee reimbursement. Even though Magnet says that nurse managers must have a bachelors in NURSING and most of them don't, they are only hiring BSN staff nurses. We have "shared governance" which seems more like "committee" governance. The rest of the staff gets no say in any of the policies. Does anyone work in a Magnet designated hospital and are they truly better than any other hospital? I always figured Magnet was what the insurance companies and Medicare wanted in order to reimburse. :mad::mad:

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Specializes in ER, Step-Down.

We've had our magnet status for a bit more than a year now... meh, i really don't see any difference - except that they've taken away our staffing incentive bonus! part of magnet is cutting costs, etc, which has had a negative effect on our paychecks. they went on a hiring binge to be "fully staffed" so there is no OT, no bonuses, etc etc. overall, we - the lowly staff nurses - don't see much of an advantage as of yet. I *still* hold out hope that I'll understand it all some day...

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The "Magnet" designation has become kind of "iffy," IMHO. It was originally designed to recognize the (few) hospitals around the country that were already providing a great working environment for nurses. As hospitals realized they could use this as a marketing tool (and notice how many hospitals advertise their "Magnet" status as if the designation is about great patient care), lots of hospitals have started "going through the motions" and doing whatever they need to on a temporary basis to meet the minimal standards to qualify for the designation. So, while you could be confident in the early days of the Magnet program that the designation really meant that hospital provided a great working environment, now it's hard to tell exactly what it does mean -- there's a v. wide range of "Magnet" hospitals (in terms of working conditions for nurses) out there.

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Specializes in Acute care, Community Med, SANE, ASC.

I work at a magnet hospital and I think it's a bunch of hooey. I think it is just another money maker for for the ANA

(Magnet status is an award given by the American Nurses' Credentialing Center (ANCC), an affiliate of the American Nurses Association).

It costs the hospital many thousands of dollars to obtain and then retain magnet status--i.e. money for the ANA. I would prefer they use that money to hire more nurses or give us raises.

It all seems like a lot of wasted time and effort to me. All kinds of education stuff appears on bulletin boards around my hospital so that we can be prepared for the magnet reviewers and know the 14 points of magnet crap--whatever. I'm sure I won't see a reviewer but if I do I'm going to tell them I don't give a crap about their 14 points and I will mention that my hospital does not encourage my further education since in my position I do not receive extra pay for having a certification even though the rest of the departments in the hospital pay it.

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It's nice in theory. In practice, it's just more hoops for the nurses to jump through.

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I work at a magnet hospital and I think it's a bunch of hooey. I think it is just another money maker for for the ANA

(Magnet status is an award given by the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center (ANCC), an affiliate of the American Nurses Association).

It costs the hospital many thousands of dollars to obtain and then retain magnet status--i.e. money for the ANA. I would prefer they use that money to hire more nurses or give us raises.

It all seems like a lot of wasted time and effort to me. All kinds of education stuff appears on bulletin boards around my hospital so that we can be prepared for the magnet reviewers and know the 14 points of magnet crap--whatever. I'm sure I won't see a reviewer but if I do I'm going to tell them I don't give a crap about their 14 points and I will mention that my hospital does not encourage my further education since in my position I do not receive extra pay for having a certification even though the rest of the departments in the hospital pay it.

(This is exactly what I'm talking about -- it's a pretty blatant distortion of the original idea and intent of the "Magnet" designation.)

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I'm sure I won't see a reviewer but if I do I'm going to tell them I don't give a crap about their 14 points...

Hehe, my old boss tried to get me to change my schedule so I wouldn't be there on JC day or Magnet Review day. They said it was because they knew "that it was stressful for me." We all know it was because they were afraid I'd talk to the reviewers. I LOVE those days. It's the one day that the management is more stressed out than the staff. :)

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I agree--I never worked at a Magnet hospital, but when I left the hospital we were going through the process...and I think it's a bunch of crap--just like the JCAHO stuff, you are on your best behavior for a week and then the rest of the year you function like normal. At any rate...when I first became a nurse 5 years ago, there was only 1 magnet hospital in my state and only a handful in the country, now it seems like they are popping up all over the country. I will say that there is one hospital near me that I have actually heard and spoken to nurses that LOVE their jobs there, and it is a magnet hospital. The turnover rate there is very low and they are never hiring...I don't know if its because they are magnet or if it's just a really good place to work...maybe one day I'll work there =)

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My hospital just got magnet status. We have an onsite bsn and masters program.

In addition our manager is always encouraging us to get

additional certifications. I do feel we earned our status and

that it is a fantastic place to work. I feel supported by not only my coworkers,

but my manager and the house sups. Case in point

I got sick at work and had to go to the Ed the house sup stayed with me for

over an hour just to make sure I was okay. Love my job:)

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I work for a magnet hospital and it was a "magnet" hospital even before we received the distinction. We have always had a low turnover rate, low vacancy rate and have been able to be selective in who we hire.

It is very difficult to take just any facility and turn them into a magnet hospital.

Now that we are going through redesignation the expectations are higher. We have more fully develop our nursing research program and shared governance is flourishing. I have been actively involved in this process and have enjoyed the journey. Also many more nurses are becoming certified a process in which the hospital acknowledges usby paying for certification and added it to the clinical ladder.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

My hospital is on the magnet journey...it doesn't really affect the staff nurses positively I think..but middle and upper mgmt love it!

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MY hospital is a magnet. The one day of the year that we have adequate staffing. We do not get extra pay foe certifications either. It means nothing for us nurses.

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