ctspargo

I am an RN at ETMC in Tyler, TX. I'm not sure of the opportunities in the arenas you are looking at, but I do know that East Texas Medical Center is having a job fair in their Pavilion this Friday (October 3, 2008) from 1:00 - 5:00 PM. It might be worth coming and networking with some of our managers, directors, staff nurses, and HR. Get yourself out there. Good luck!

How about a hand-written note recognizing the hard work and compassionate care that nurses give. Being specific helps. General thank you's are less meaningful. Nurses really aren't in it for the money (obviously). But when nursing is your passion, and someone takes the time to let you know that you have really made a difference, it is a wonderful feeling. Also, allowing nurses time to attend educational sessions or conferences is a great reward. We are all hungry for knowledge.

I used to work for Duke Medical Center which is magnet. Really, I have worked for 5 different hospitals in the past 15 years and I have never seen any difference in the ratios.... 5-6 on med surg, 3-4 on step down, and 1-2 on ICU. I just don't think Magnet or Shared Governance has an effect on that. I have found the ratios managable. And on the night when you are getting slammed, there is always a nurse with a lighter assignment to help out. From what I have heard, keeping it is almost as difficult as getting it. And so I suspect, it's not that things go downhill after getting it, just possibly reverting back to the "pre-magnet" days. We get very excited creating programs and improving processes. I think it necessary for hopitals who hire Magnet Directors to work on this designation to maintain the position in order to maintain the culture. What were you saying about the scrub colors?

Are you required to wear certain color scrubs? styles? What color? Does your facility offer a uniform allowance? Do they provide scrubs? Do they offer payroll deduction? We are currently voting on what color scrubs we want to wear as nurses and whether different disciplines should wear different colors. We are trying to look more professional and help our patients be able to identify who is walking in their room, nurse? housekeeper? lab? aide? Any of your thoughts and how uniforms are working in your hospital will be greatly appreciated.

I think the process of working towards Magnet does a lot for bedside nurses. I have worked for both Magnet and non-magnet facilities. I am now working for a hospital in the process of working towards Magnet. I am on the magnet council and we have truly accomplished a lot. I haven't noticed a difference in the ratios.... we have averaged 5-6 at every hospital I have worked for. Of course there is that night when someone calls in sick, but then we'd complain about mandatory overtime if they worried about each nurse getting an extra patient. As professionals, we need to decide does the acuity allow us to take another patient, or do we need to ask someone to stay, or float? We are all there for our patients. I think the majority of nurses do care about shared governance. Those closest to the bedside should be making the patient care decisions and we have had shared governance at every hospital I have worked for. I definitely think it is worthwhile to work towards this recognition. I know we have made some positive changes in the process.

I don't think it is just a title. I also work on a Magnet Council and we do a tremendous amount of work for our hospital. Over the past 2 years we have built our clinical ladder system, increased the number of certified nurses, will be starting our Mentoring program in a month, implemented a system to create action plans on nursing sensitive indicators that do not exceed national benchmarks, incorporated evidence based practice education and hands on experience into our residency program, enhanced our shared governance structure, hosted nursing job fairs, planned and implemented an annual nursing management retreat, created a nursing bulletin board (similar to this one) where nurses can communicate with other nurses at all levels in the organization, countless educational programs, it has been amazing. We have also really come to realize so many things that our hospital is doing well. For us, the award is just an added plus. The real benefit of Magnet Recognition is all that we do to to provide the best possible patient care. It is a real honor to be working on this council. I hope you are enjoying it!