Magnet Status--what's on the hospital's "to do" list in order to meet the criteria?

[nurse4me8897]

My hospital--a large teaching facility and level 1 trauma center-- is initiating a push for magnet status. Wierd things are happening here and we are all wondering what else to expect. Of course, rumors abound... does every single RN in the hospital have to be on a committee, do we all have to have bachelor's degrees? How has this program actually made your lives more difficult, because that's what we are afraid of. Our hospital has never done anything positive for us. They skew their numbers on turnover and employee satisfaction. Nobody is happy here and nobody has ever cared in the past. We all feel that this magnet status is only for marketablility to the general public and nothing but trouble for us. Any input from those of you who have already been through this?

[nursemary9, BSN, RN]

Hi

I know what you mean.

We are on our "JOURNEY" right now to magnet Status.

Not every Nurse needs to be on a committee. There are LOTS of committees, don't get me wrong, but not each & every one of us is on one.

In fact, many of us nite staff are not on them because they refuse to make them easier for us.

I really wanted to be on the Unit Council, for instance. However, the mtgs are ALWAYS at 2 or 3 PM & last FOREVER---usually about 2 hrs or so.

I asked if they could, perhaps make them at 0730 or 0800 when I get off, & I could stay-----NOPE!! So I resigned. I go to sleep at around 2:30 or so. SORRY!!

Same with all the other committees!!

We do not all have BSN's. For instance, I have a Diploma.

Many of the girls are Associate Degree.

There is LOTS of Little stuff---Things to improve the unit, patient care etc.

My Hosp. is also a teaching Hospital & Level 1 Trauma unit.

We have been working on this for a little less then a year.

Tonite, there was a presentation by each unit to the hospital on some of the changes that have been made--it was like a show & tell. Kind of interesting.

It has not been as bad as I thought.

I, too, feel it is more for the marketability then for the Nurses like they say.

I hope this helps a bit.

[NurseCard, ADN]

Hmmmm.... well, the hospital that I worked at for 7 years, started its "journey" back at the end of 2003. It takes like, two years or so from the time a hospital starts the magnet process, until it is eligible to submit a document basically stating everything that the hospital has done, everything it has changed, to fit the magnet profile, or whatever. Then the document is reviewed, and then it is decided by the ANCC if the hospital will get a visit from, whatever committee or group of persons it is, who decides if the hospital might be granted magnet status. We submitted our document back about spring of last year, and for whatever reason, we weren't granted a visit from this group of persons. There were apparently things that our hospital still needed to work on.

Lots of things changed when we began this process; however I wouldn't say that anything changed for the better or worse, as far as how our jobs were on a day to day basis. There were just a lot of hospital wide and unit wide committees formed, under the guise that the RNs and few LPNs would have more say in hospital policies, which I kinda believe was an illusion. There was a clinical ladder program started, where each nurse could do various things such as community service, take classes, earn their BSN, etc... in order to earn a bonus (that got taxed the heck out of) at the end of the year. The size of the bonus depended on how much stuff we accomplished during the year.

Again, I don't think the whole magnet thing changed my job that much at all. I think it mostly was a way to improve the hospital's image in the community, and also in the nursing community (i.e, to get people to come work there). I wasn't required to participate in any of it, and no one was ever required to get their BSN. My hospital however, was big on politics and "clicks", and so in a way, you had to participate in the whole Magnet thing in order to be "cool". But you could choose to be one of the nerdy kids and just march to your own drummer, i.e. just do your job and enjoy doing it and then get the heck out of there when you were done. :)

[MIA-RN1, RN]

I started working at about the same time my hospital started their journey. I haven't got much before/after to compare to, but what I've seen is that we got fed alot in the beginning, got Tshirts (which we paid for), got pins to wear, had to read the Disney book, and there are tons of new committees. The biggest push is for the 'self governance committee' which I think will mean that (supposedly) nurses will have power on a unit-level for decision making. I am not sure, but I signed up for it. And of course there is a mandatory inservice about unit-based governance.

Other stuff...not sure. We are a mix of bachelor's and associates level nurses and no word that we have to all be bsn.

Not sure if anything else is going on. Today I got a letter in the mail that I got a whopping 0.24 cent/hr raise from the 'winter merit program'. No clue what that is, but I know when I had my 6-month review in December, I was told no raise is forthcoming til one year, as that is policy. I don't know if my raise is a magnet initiative or not.

My personal feeling about magnet status is that the more hospitals that are designated, the less meaning it will have. Once everyone is magnet status, then we are all back to square one again. Also, I am not sure what the outcome will be. It would be nice if something comes of self-governance, but I am not sure that is even possible. TPTB still dictate from above with dollar signs in their eyes and until that changes and patient care becomes a primary focus, nurses won't have much power no matter how many committees are formed.

I guess I will find out more as the journey continues lol

[AfloydRN, BSN, RN]

No, all nurses cannot be forced to get their BSN. Basically at the hospital where I work, they got rid of all nursing educators who were not masters prepared. Of course, we have openings to this day. It does push for alot of nursing committees. I work for a union hospital and we actually do have quite a bit of say in what goes on. Magnet status to me means excellence in nursing care and higher expectations for those nurses.

[Memerson2000]

It's reported that only 1% of the hospitals who apply for Magnet status are denied--could I hear from some nurses who work for Magnet-denied hospitals? I see from this site that UVA was turned down twice--who else?

[miko014]

I work for a Magnet hospital - we were granted magnet status about a year ago I believe. Of course, there was a big celebration and all that good stuff, and then they told us how, because of a bunch of docs pulling out and going to a different hospital, we were down $6 million dollars ONE MONTH into the fiscal year. Now they have replaced the physicians, but we are down $9 million, and it's going to take "awhile" for the numbers to catch back up. So we have to work at 104% productivity and all that good stuff. So turnover rate is increasing, burnout is increasing, and we are wondering how they are going to be allowed to keep all the awards they have earned (Press Ganey, one of the top 100 companies in the country to work for, US News, Solucient, etc). But if our hospital really is that good, I would hate to see some of the places that didn't make the lists, because we sure as heck have a lot of problems! They just cover them up - "it's okay if you're unhappy, because we have these awards that tell us we are good!" The employee satisfaction survey was pretty low this year, come to think of it...

[Myxel67]

I work for a Magnet hospital - we were granted magnet status about a year ago I believe. Of course, there was a big celebration and all that good stuff, and then they told us how, because of a bunch of docs pulling out and going to a different hospital, we were down $6 million dollars ONE MONTH into the fiscal year.

Did the docs leave because of changes made to achieve Magnet? Or was their departure totally unrelated?

[neneRN, BSN, RN]

I don't work at a magnet hospital, but just had to do an assignment on them for school; this site has a lot of info-

nursingworld.org/ancc/magnet/index.html