If a Hospital is Magnet Hospital

[HappyMeNow]

Does that mean the RNs must have a BSN or bachelors degree of some sort?

[MikeyBSN]

No, it means your hospital gave a lot of money to the Magnet Commission.

[llg, PhD, RN]

No. However, one of the Magnet criteria is that the hospital must show support for higher levels of education for nurses. Hospitals choose to show that support in many different ways, usually setting goals to increase their percentage of BSN's among their staff nurses. That may lead them to favor BSN's in their hiring practices. But there is not a requirement that staff nurses must have a BSN.

The Magnet criteria currently include a criteria the the Chief Nursing Officer have a BSN -- and they will soon require that all nursing managers have BSN's.

[llg, PhD, RN]

No, it means your hospital gave a lot of money to the Magnet Commission.

Actually, you don't have to pay the Magnet people all that much money. The big expenses come in the programs that you have to implement to qualify -- such as encouraging education and certification, doing research, gathering all the data, hiring people to track the things that need to be tracked and write the reports, etc.

Some people spend a lot of money sending their staff to conferences, etc. ... but that's not required.

Edit added 1/15: When you think about it ... most of the money spent for Magnet actually goes to the nurses who work for the hospital (in one way or another). They are given tuition reimbursement or paid differentials for the higher degrees or certifications ... they are paid to participate in committees ... high level performers at the top of any clinical ladders created are paid more, etc.

Yes, some money is paid to the Magnet organization itself ... but the bulk of the money is spent on programs -- in the forms of salaries to the people involved in the activities that meet the Magnet criteria. The Magnet fees themselves are one-time expenses: the long-term payroll costs of the programs created to meet the Magnet standards far outweigh those one-time fees.

[ohgoodnessgracious]

No, our hospital recently just achieved Magnet (yay!) and there are plenty of nurses here who don't have their BSNs here still.

[sjt9721, BSN, RN]

No. However, one of the Magnet criteria is that the hospital must show support for higher levels of education for nurses. Hospitals choose to show that support in many different ways, usually setting goals to increase their percentage of BSN's among their staff nurses. That may lead them to favor BSN's in their hiring practices. But there is not a requirement that staff nurses must have a BSN.

The Magnet criteria currently include a criteria the the Chief Nursing Officer have a BSN -- and they will soon require that all nursing managers have BSN's.

Another way of showing support for higher education is through tuition reimbursement, scholarship programs, and flexible scheduling for those in school. For our place, it's not so much about hiring BSNs, but about removing barriers to help our ADN hires go back to school.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

Absolutly not. In fact at the Magenet hospital where I work new grad BSNs are not considered for the critical care nurse residency prorgam. ADNs only. It alsio just dropped it's program to help pay for RNs to get their BSN or MSN.

One interesting thing I just learned from our VP of patient care servises (in charge of anyone in the hospital who toutches a patients, RN, CNAs, Rts etc. MDs work for the medical center across the street.. Magnet actualy saves the hospital money, lots of it in lower interest rates from our lenders.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

When you think about it ... most of the money spent for Magnet actually goes to the nurses who work for the hospital (in one way or another). They are given tuition reimbursement or paid differentials for the higher degrees or certifications ... they are paid to participate in committees ... high level performers at the top of any clinical ladders created are paid more, etc.

On paper maybe, in reality, no. They create ladders, and you're expected to do all the paperwork and still stay on top of your patient care during the shift. You have to accrue enough points to stay at your level on the ladder, or they take away your benefits, and to get the points you have to get certified, join organizations on your own dime. Magnet is another great idea in theory that when put into the reality of nursing just makes it harder for nurses to do their job by giving them even more hoops to jump through.