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

I LOVE your posts, third shift guy! they are always so positive and upbeat. What a pleasure!

I enjoy third shift guy too. He is one I would want taking care of me in the hospital!

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I guess what I'm sensing is this: Magnet is about nurses who want to go somewhere where they will feel like they have a voice in what happens at their hospital. Where they will feel like they can be leaders. Where they will feel like they can be motivated to make acheivements as nurses.

Magnet isn't interested in whether your place is actually a nice place to work or not.

That's why Magnet doesn't interest me very much. Because you know, I enjoy taking care of people and all that, but at the same time, I would actually like to work in a pleasant, safe, SOMEWHAT less stressful environment. I'm not interested in being a leader. I'm interested in not dreading going to work every night.

Magnet is concerned with their nurses having a VOICE and I think tha's very important. Safety has a lot to do with nursing being heard.

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BTW, "Magnet" is a nursing designation. So when you "Magnet Hospital", it's not the hospital. It's a reflection of the nursing department and staff. :)

Yup, that is right! I work for a MAGNET hospital. The nursing staff is amazing. There is definitely a sense of pride and a culture of excellence at my hospital.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Right in this thread, I see conflicting opinions on what it is like to work in a Magnet facility, which leads me to believe being "Magnet" may not be "all that", after all. More like "caveat emptor" if you ask me.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
I mean, if a place achieves "magnet status" and there is NO standard by which they go to ASSIGN it, why BOTHER Tweety??? It sounds like a sneaky trap to attract the best and brightest nurses, only. Not anything at all meaningful. Does that make more sense?

Yes and no Deb. There is a standard Deb. Some people reach it and other's surpass it. So they still aren't created equal. Magnet is the same organization that gives out individual CCRN designations. There are standards the CCRN must meet. Are all CCRN nurses equal in skills and excellence? Make more sense now? You said it yourself, that there are differing opinions on what it is to work at a magnet facility.

But yes, I can agree that the hospital uses it to their advantage to recruit not only nursing staff, but patients and doctors. That's why they go through all the expense of getting it.

Some standards though you can't fake. If you don't have good nurses, if you don't have a model that gives those nursses some power in how nursing is run (not ratios, staffing, etc. But part of the decision making process) then you are not going to get it.

I think my facility is somewhere in between. I'm unhappy with the ratios and some things there. But I've been there 14 years and have had offers elsewhere. There are nonmagnet facilities in the area where others have come from and they definately think we're better. But there are nonmagnet facilities nearby where nurses say it's better there.

So no Magnet isn't all that, but it's nothing to poo poo and be cynical about either. I'm proud that we have it. (Although we're waiting to hear about our renewal and we might not have been renewed.)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
I enjoy third shift guy too. He is one I would want taking care of me in the hospital!

blush........thanks. :)

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

Being magnet isn't that great, look at the post on the OB board about a unit closing...that is a magnet hospital. That same hospital also brings in Phillipino nurses in droves.

They send out this huge 3 volume thing to this committee that reads it and says, gee looks great on paper lets go and see them in person. They tank up staffing for the week, make everything pretty and nice, assign "greeters" to meet these people at the door, yes, one on every shift, they take them around. The hospital hands out scripts for you to follow. No , I am not kidding. We have a nurse senate...sure it gets things going, but the UM's just say, well it is a GUIDELINE, not a RULE and ignore it. The only good thing is no more mandation, but that doesn't mean that they can't PRESCHEDULE you extra time to cover short days on the schedule they are working on, they just can't make you stay on a few hours notice. You can't even decline the preschedule like you could for a mandation (and they can't fire you for refusing mandation, but they can fire you for calling in on those days you don't want to work).

So, no, not all magnet hospitals are created equal unfortunately.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

It sounds like alot of silly hoop-jumping and pencil-whipping to me. The more I read here, the more I think it's like JCAHO accreditation. Big woop.

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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, I do work for a magnet hospital PRN and there is a big difference. It is really a good place, safe place to work.... and the doctors are also wonderful.

shandy :balloons:

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It sounds like alot of silly hoop-jumping and pencil-whipping to me. The more I read here, the more I think it's like JCAHO accreditation. Big woop.

Deb, I have to agree with your suspicions about magnet status. My hospital is well on it's way to achieving magnet and we have horrible staffing ratios. We do have lots of educational oppotunities for nurses and a clinical ladder, but our turnover rate is astronomical, mostly due to high ratios. I was talking to one of the staff RNs who is on the magnet committe, and he said many of the administators, including the CEO and VP of nursing will receive a generous bonus if we obtain magnet status :rolleyes:

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I work for the very first magnet hospital in the country ( still has magnet status) - I can't imagine being anywhere else - there is a difference, in pride, attitude, professionalism you name it.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Deb, I have to agree with your suspicions about magnet status. My hospital is well on it's way to achieving magnet and we have horrible staffing ratios. We do have lots of educational oppotunities for nurses and a clinical ladder, but our turnover rate is astronomical, mostly due to high ratios. I was talking to one of the staff RNs who is on the magnet committe, and he said many of the administators, including the CEO and VP of nursing will receive a generous bonus if we obtain magnet status :rolleyes:

of course they will. it's all politics. :rolleyes: and what exactly will the NURSING and ANCILLIARY staff receive???? Oh that's right, the priveledge to say they work in a Magnet Facility. Silly me. :)

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