Magnet hospital

Nurses General Nursing

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Are there any nurses out there who work for Magnet Hospitals. Do you sense a diffrent or a sense of Pride?? :p

Yes, in a city with 50 hospitals, there's only one magnet. I bet you can guess which one... Come on, if you're not from here, try to name more than 1 hospital in STL....

From all I can tell, magnet status really says more about how the administration views the nursing staff than about the working conditions. Around here, it seems to mean that the nursing staff have a say in all decisions, but that doesn't mean they have the veto! I think it says more about the CULTURE of the institution- I am currently doing clinicals at another of the same health group's hospitals (not magnet), and I am shocked at times how "old school" they seemed. I don't mean the technology/care/facilities, it's just at some time in the semester it wouldn't surprise me if I see a nurse stand to allow a doc to sit.... This place is run by the MD's, and it's obvious. At the magnet, I understand the nurses have more autonomy and are much more involved in the Plan of Care. They at least SEEM to value the complete role of the nurse, even if the ratios aren't quite right, etc.

However, I've heard the magnet facility tends to attract a nursing staff less likely to help you if you need it, as they (mostly) are out to make a mark for themselves- think "supernurse!".

For me, I am intrigued by the higher acuity of the magnet, and honestly the prestige. I don't know where in the country (or the world!) my nursing career will take me, and I could do worse than stating my training came from there. I just don't want them to know that I really want to work there, as I'd like for them to suck up to get me....

You know, if you're saying something nice about your hospital, ya'll could include the name-

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Yes, in a city with 50 hospitals, there's only one magnet. I bet you can guess which one... Come on, if you're not from here, try to name more than 1 hospital in STL....

From all I can tell, magnet status really says more about how the administration views the nursing staff than about the working conditions. Around here, it seems to mean that the nursing staff have a say in all decisions, but that doesn't mean they have the veto! I think it says more about the CULTURE of the institution- I am currently doing clinicals at another of the same health group's hospitals (not magnet), and I am shocked at times how "old school" they seemed. I don't mean the technology/care/facilities, it's just at some time in the semester it wouldn't surprise me if I see a nurse stand to allow a doc to sit.... This place is run by the MD's, and it's obvious. At the magnet, I understand the nurses have more autonomy and are much more involved in the Plan of Care. They at least SEEM to value the complete role of the nurse, even if the ratios aren't quite right, etc.

However, I've heard the magnet facility tends to attract a nursing staff less likely to help you if you need it, as they (mostly) are out to make a mark for themselves- think "supernurse!".

For me, I am intrigued by the higher acuity of the magnet, and honestly the prestige. I don't know where in the country (or the world!) my nursing career will take me, and I could do worse than stating my training came from there. I just don't want them to know that I really want to work there, as I'd like for them to suck up to get me....

You know, if you're saying something nice about your hospital, ya'll could include the name-

so are you saying, it's symbolism over substance? appearances more important than real difference?

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Deb, you're picking every negative statement at using it to form your opinion. Why not pick every positive statement and say "oh, that's what a magnet hospital is and means".

"there is a difference, in pride, attitude, professionalism you name it..."

"There is a magnet hospital in my area and the people I know who work there absolutely love it and praise it! They would never dream of being anywhere else."

" the weak links are worked on, and the good parts are pretty good. The other thing I like is that management seems to be "nicer" and more approachable."

"I do love working for this hospital. Seems like compared to other hospitals, the nurses are all NICER....probably b/c they like working here too! "

" know that if and when I ever decide to move and have to hospital shop, being a magnet facility will definitely be a criteria for me,.."

"I work at a Magnet hospital and I wouldn't consider working anywhere else."

I know when we first started the Magnet process we all laughed, thought it was a joke, "this is a terrible place to work, the morale is low, management doesn't care, blah blah blah........." Then when we went to renew five years later "I love this place, I hope we get the magnet status again.....".

Nusring here is still a tough and demanding role. Read my posts and you'll see many vents about my job. The ratios are tough, the patients are tough, it's back breaking work. Striving for excellence in my nursing practice is what I do as an individual. That my institution says they value that in staff is important to me as well. As an individual, I've been rewarded for it in many ways. All the problems related to modern medical care and nursing are still rampant in my facility and it's not perfect.

Anyway, while it's best to look at things with a critical cynical eye, you might not be getting the whole picture by commenting and focusing only on the negative. End of lecture. LOL

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Deb, you're picking every negative statement at using it to form your opinion. Why not pick every positive statement and say "oh, that's what a magnet hospital is and means".

"there is a difference, in pride, attitude, professionalism you name it..."

"There is a magnet hospital in my area and the people I know who work there absolutely love it and praise it! They would never dream of being anywhere else."

" the weak links are worked on, and the good parts are pretty good. The other thing I like is that management seems to be "nicer" and more approachable."

"I do love working for this hospital. Seems like compared to other hospitals, the nurses are all NICER....probably b/c they like working here too! "

" know that if and when I ever decide to move and have to hospital shop, being a magnet facility will definitely be a criteria for me,.."

"I work at a Magnet hospital and I wouldn't consider working anywhere else."

I know when we first started the Magnet process we all laughed, thought it was a joke, "this is a terrible place to work, the morale is low, management doesn't care, blah blah blah........." Then when we went to renew five years later "I love this place, I hope we get the magnet status again.....".

Nusring here is still a tough and demanding role. Read my posts and you'll see many vents about my job. The ratios are tough, the patients are tough, it's back breaking work. Striving for excellence in my nursing practice is what I do as an individual. That my institution says they value that in staff is important to me as well. As an individual, I've been rewarded for it in many ways. All the problems related to modern medical care and nursing are still rampant in my facility and it's not perfect.

Anyway, while it's best to look at things with a critical cynical eye, you might not be getting the whole picture by commenting and focusing only on the negative. End of lecture. LOL

Magnet status is all about being "positive" and "head and shoulders" above the rest. I read this thread and see the inconsistency in Magnet status facilities. I have serious heartburn with that. No one expects perfection, but substance over symbolic gestures, I DO expect from the "best of the best". Yea, it oughta be CONSISTENT.if this is a standard to aspire and look up to.

As for me? I work in a NON-magnet facility and at this point, would not work anyplace else, including the Magnet facility up the road.

Night. :)

Specializes in Critical Care/ICU.

Do those who work at magnet facilities who do not find it all that attractive think that the thing that contributes the most to the unhappiness is the nurse/ patient ratios and the pay? For the most part are the other requirements the hospital must meet good (education, opportunity to be involved, etc)?

I'm just curious because these things seem to be the common complaint.

Maybe they ought to add ratios as part of the criteria to become magnet.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Do those who work at magnet facilities who do not find it all that attractive think that the thing that contributes the most to the unhappiness is the nurse/ patient ratios and the pay? For the most part are the other requirements the hospital must meet good (education, recognition, etc)?

I'm just curious because these things seem to be the common complaint.

My biggest complaint about the unit I work in is the ratios. I think they are danagerous for the patient. That is probably what contributes most to my personal unsatisfaction with my job and it has been that way for the entire time I've been in nursing. From what I've seen/heard, magnet facility or not, it is a problem in this area (and was in North Carolina when I worked there 14 years ago).

I'm fairly happy with my pay as I've doubled my pay and then some since I've worked here. Started about at $12.00 and am making $26.00 plus diff. which isn't much, but it's good for this part of the country.

Specializes in Critical Care/ICU.

You would think with all the RN committees and such that the magnet facilities would address the ratio problems that so obviously have such an impact on nurse satisfaction, not to mention patient safety.

It just makes so much sense to me. I guess I'm just a dreamer?

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
You would think with all the RN committees and such that the magnet facilities would address the ratio problems that so obviously have such an impact on nurse satisfaction, not to mention patient safety.

It just makes so much sense to me. I guess I'm just a dreamer?

You're just a dreamer.

It has been addressed ad nauseaum in every committee, in every town hall meeting for years and years. Don't think we're quiet about it.

The ratios here have improved in some areas, especially in the cardiac and telemetry units. The tele unit dropped from 6:1 to 4:1. The neuro did the same.

But the VP we have no says our ratios on our unit are the national standard and I'm not happy about it. But we're still working on it. Supposed our ratio is supposed to drop on day shift, but there aren't enough nurses right now.

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Yeah, I would say that that is my biggest complaint... that nurse to patient ratios aren't addressed.

Again, I'll just say that I'm one who isn't out to become "supernurse"... it certainly isn't that I don't enjoy helping people, but when I'm taking care of nine, ten patients every night, it becomes much less enjoyable and I start to feel like I'm really not doing a very good job of taking care of *anyone*. I do realize that despite the number of patients that I'm taking care of, it IS my job to make sure each and every one of them is doing okay. And I do try to do all of that, to the best of my ability. But I don't always enjoy myself. But, it's a job, and I'm not supposed to always enjoy it, am I?

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
But I don't always enjoy myself. But, it's a job, and I'm not supposed to always enjoy it, am I?

No. We Americans think sometimes we have to enjoy our jobs. But it would be nice to go home with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment every once in a while wouldn't it?

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

eligibility criteria

http://nursingworld.org/ancc/magnet/process.html#elig

entity. the applicant organization must exist within a healthcare organization. organizations interested in applying as a system should refer to appendix e in the magnet application manual; click [color=#00524d]here to view.

nursing leadership. the applicant organization must include one or more nursing settings with a single governing authority and one individual serving as the chief nursing officer (cno) who is ultimately responsible for sustaining the standards of nursing practice in all areas in which nurses practice. the cno must participate on the applicant organization's highest governing decision-making and strategic planning body for at least the 12-month period prior to the submission of written documentation required in the second phase of the appraisal process.

  • cno education. the cno must possess a master's degree. effective january 1, 2008, the cno must possess either the baccalaureate or master's degree in nursing.1
  • cno tenure. except in the receipt of military orders, the cno must have been in that position for at least one year at the time of the submission of the organization's written documentation and must remain in that position throughout the appraisal process.

standards for nurse administrators. applicant organizations must have the american nurses association's scope and standards for nurse administrators (ana 2004) currently implemented throughout nursing.

protected feedback procedures. applicant organizations must have policies and procedures that permit and encourage nurses to confidentially express their concerns about their professional practice environment without retribution. policies and procedures that discourage nurses to express their concerns about their professional practice environment are prohibited.

unfair labor practices. in the three-year period preceding submission of the application, the applicant must not have committed an unfair labor practice involving a nurse; as determined in a fully and finally adjudicated proceeding or before the national labor relations board (nlrb) or state or international regulatory agency with jurisdiction over labor relations and/or a reviewing federal, state, or international court;. only the commission on magnet may approve any exception to this criterion.2

regulatory compliance. applicant organizations must be in compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws, regulations, statutes, and accrediting body standards, including the practices recommended in the national patient safety goals. the latter includes:

  • improve the accuracy of patient identification.
  • improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers.
  • improve the safety of using medications.
  • improve the safety of using infusion pumps.
  • reduce the risk of health acquired infections.
  • accurately and completely reconcile medications and other treatments across the continuum of care.
  • reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls.
  • reduce the risk of surgical fires.

data collection. applicants for magnet designation must collect specific nurse-sensitive quality indicators (identified in the magnet manual) at the unit level and benchmark that data against a database at the highest/broadest level possible (i.e., national, state, specialty organization, regional, or system) to support research and quality improvement initiatives.3

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ready for the journey?

take the self-assessment survey for organizations or [color=#006666]staff nurses to find out if you're ready to begin the magnet journey.

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if your facility does not meet these criteria, please inform magnet program:

public comments solicited for magnet applicant facilities

http://nursingworld.org/ancc/magnet/siteevals.html

staff nurse survey: http://nursingworld.org/ancc/magnet/snsurvey.html

Yeah, I would say that that is my biggest complaint... that nurse to patient ratios aren't addressed.

From a staff nurse perspective, it's inconceivable to me that such a basic issue is not addressed. Sadly, I'm not surprised.

In my opinion, the Magnet Program represents a genuine opportunity to identify facilities where nursing is valued. But without minimum nurse-patient ratios clearly spelled out "California style", this designation is essentially another administrative dog-and-pony show.

There may be some honest disagreement as to the specified minimums-----but clearly some of the ratios mentioned in this and other threads are unacceptable. For these facilities to go forward and/or to have already achieved this Magnet Status demonstrates a total lack of understanding of what it takes to adequately care for patients in 2005. And if we don't have that, of what value are all the committees and initiatives such programs generate? Little or none in my view.

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