Magnet curse!

Nurses Professionalism

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Specializes in MICU.

Anyone else work at a Magnet hospital where shortly after you got magnet accreditation the work environment/morale went downhill? We got magnet in 2011 and currently it is not a good place to work! Lots of turnover, travel nurses, etc. on my unit we are required to get our CCRN within two years (which will be over by the end of this year!!) or they say they will post our jobs (if we haven't gotten it yet). These are just a few examples. I was wondering if this has happened elsewhere.

I was just told today by the magnet hospital that the reason that they cannot rehire me is because they don't currently have enough BSN nurses to maintain magnet status.

They thought that their older adn nurses would retire---didn't happen. And then they'd be able to fill those spots with BSN grads.

Instead the BSN grads came in, worked for a year, and then leave to go to the more prestigious university hospitals.

So here I am begging for a job, currently enrolled in an RN to BSN program and won't be hired simply because the hospital can't check off the box on the magnet paperwork that I have a BSN.

Specializes in Going to Peds!.

That's such a load of crap. I'm not opposed to obtaining my bsn. I'm opposed to spending $20-24k to do it. I'm opposed to being forced to do it. I'm VERY opposed to being bullied and threatened in order to get me to comply.

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I was not at my hospital prior to magnet but honestly don't care for the status. For one, I think we miss out on many potentially good employees because they will not hire those with two year degrees. A lot more paper work is added. It seems to me as if the nurses who have been there for a while don't care for the changes. To be honest I think magnet is kinda a load of crap and doesn't mean a ton... :p

I worked at a hospital that was magnet for several years. There was a perception that the work load was getting heavier, staffing worse, etc. and people were always saying "We should tell magnet the ratios are worse now than when they came!" the hospital ended up losing magnet because of the nurses' satisfaction survey results when it was up for re-cert.

Now I don't even care about magnet, I moved to another state where hospitals are magnet and the ratios are way worse than Ive ever seen and there are disrespectful physicians. Everyone is in a fit about having to pursue their bachelor's. Some of the smaller hospitals announced they can't even afford to go after magnet anymore. I don't think patients even know or care about it, either.

Lol last week my mom took her brother in for surgery and was asking the RN at the hospital if the hospital has "magic status." So, yea, I'd agree that patients and family don't know what it is!!!! I'm sure the nurse thought she was nuts.

I had no idea what magnet status was until I started reading it on AN and researched it. I worked in a new 300 bed hospital for over 3 years and never heard of it. I guess we weren't a magnet hospital, and apparently we weren't striving for it either.

Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I have worked at 3 different Magnet facilities. The first one had bullying among staff, a lack of work ethic, and no teamwork (we actually had law suits that were because of our mistakes). Sure we had a primarily BSN staff, and education was encouraged, but that didn't really matter.

The second one obviously just wanted the prestige. Most of the time I worked understaffed, sometimes being the only RN on my unit, and this was acute care. However the day the Magnet appraisers came through we were staffed amazingly.

My current facility is also Magnet. This is the only place I have worked that I think deserves it. We are staffed safely every shift. Nurses are proactive and encouraged to get involved with the hospital. Continuing your education is encouraged.

So to me, Magnet in and of itself isn't a good thing. There can be good Magnet hospitals, but there are also those that know how to work the system to get Magnet.

It seems like the underlying culture of the hospital remains the same whether magnet or not. If the nurses are unhappy and the place is poorly run, magnet status will not fix that.

Specializes in Pedi.
It seems like the underlying culture of the hospital remains the same whether magnet or not. If the nurses are unhappy and the place is poorly run, magnet status will not fix that.

Agree. If anything, I saw changes for the WORSE once my hospital got magnet.

Specializes in MICU.

Glad to know we're not the only one. It was a good place to work before. Now I'll doubt we'll get renewal in a few years. My unit has seen high turnover, lots of travel nurses (also due to changing computer systems here in a month), mandatory OT last year, I could go on and on. Also, the hospital system had to make job cuts last month. None were bedside RNs but still.

I work for a Magnet Hospital and LOVE it! We were voted top 10 best places to work in the nation. They treat us well and are a very close team! I have great benefits also!

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