Introduction
The Magnet Recognition Program (MRP) was introduced by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to promote the use of best practices to provide healthcare in the US. The program provides elaborate criteria for benchmarking healthcare delivery to improve quality, clinical outcomes, and satisfaction among nurses. This paper sheds light on the significance of achieving Magnet designation. Specifically, the paper will discuss the process of achieving the Magnet designation. The benefits that are enjoyed by the healthcare facilities that have achieved Magnet designation will also be discussed.
Meaning of Magnet Designation
Magnet designation is a credential that is awarded to healthcare facilities such as hospitals that have been able to achieve high-quality standards. Thus, a Magnet designated healthcare organization is one that has met all the ANCC’s standards of excellence in healthcare provision. The standards focus on three areas namely, “quality of patient care, nursing excellence, and innovation in professional nursing practice” (ANCC, 2014). Meeting the standards in these three areas enables healthcare organizations to utilize high-quality nursing practices to deliver healthcare. As a result, the Magnet Recognition Program is considered one of the most reliable sources of best practices in nursing globally. Consumers of healthcare services use Magnet designation as a criterion for evaluating the quality standards of healthcare providers (ANCC, 2014). Generally, consumers tend to choose hospitals and clinics that have achieved Magnet designation as their healthcare providers. This choice is based on the fact that Magnet-designated organizations have the best talent, equipment, and treatment methods to deliver healthcare.
The Process of Achieving Magnet Designation
Healthcare institutions that intend to become Magnet-designated are required to make a formal application to the ANCC. Upon receiving the application, the ANCC begins the appraisal process to ensure that the applicant is able to meet its quality standards. During the appraisal, the applicant is expected to demonstrate an ability to achieve all the ANCC Forces of Magnetism (ANCC, 2014). The Forces of Magnetism refer to the characteristics that define nursing excellence in healthcare institutions. There are 14 Forces of Magnetism that focus on various aspects of healthcare provision. The forces that focus on enhancing nurses’ skills and satisfaction include professional development, the image of nursing, using nurses as teachers, and personnel policies. Using nurses as teachers “promotes the involvement of professional nurses in educational activities in the healthcare organization to improve their skills and knowledge” (ANCC, 2014). Moreover, the organization is required to establish effective programs to ensure professional development (Russell, 2010). The program should promote formal education, career development, and certification. The organization must improve the image of nursing by recognizing that the services delivered by nurses have an important and direct influence on its ability to deliver patient care.
The forces that enhance patient outcomes include nursing leadership, organizational structure, management style, professional models of delivering care, quality of care, quality improvement, autonomy, and consultation resources (ANCC, 2014). The organization is expected to have nurse leaders who are knowledgeable, strong, and risk-takers. The organizational structure should be flat, thereby facilitating decentralized decision-making and effective response to change. The management style adopted by the organization should promote participation and the provision of valuable feedback at all levels of management (Valentine, 2013). The organization’s model of delivering healthcare should promote responsibility and enhance nurses’ ability to provide medical services to patients.
The forces that enhance patients’ satisfaction include interdisciplinary relationships, as well as, the relationship between the community and the healthcare organization (ANCC, 2014). The healthcare organization is expected to establish strong relationships with the communities that it serves to enhance patient outcomes. Moreover, the organization must have conflict management strategies to promote effective collaboration among various members of its healthcare team (Valentine, 2013).
Apart from achieving all the Forces of Magnetism, the healthcare organization is required to demonstrate structural empowerment, transformational leadership, and professional practice. In addition, the organization has to demonstrate its commitment to the creation of new knowledge and innovation in nursing practice (Russell, 2010). The organization that intends to achieve Magnet designation must submit supporting documents as proof of its compliance with the ANCC’s requirements. Upon receiving all the necessary documents, the Magnet Recognition Program team visits the organization’s premises to collect additional information. After the site visit, the application is evaluated and the organization becomes Magnet-designated if it meets all the requirements.
Creation of the Magnet Recognition Program
The Magnet Recognition Program was created to acknowledge healthcare providers that deliver the best nursing care. The acknowledgment aims to improve the quality of healthcare in the US and other parts of the world. In this regard, the program was created to achieve three main objectives (Drenkard, 2010). The first objective of the program is to create awareness about the significance of the nursing profession in the health sector. During the 1970s and 1980s, most hospitals in the US and other countries had a severe shortage of nurses partly because the nursing profession was not considered a vital aspect of the healthcare delivery system (Drenkard, 2010). As a result, many nurses left the profession due to dissatisfaction, as well as, lack of professional development and career growth opportunities. The Magnet Recognition Program was created to encourage healthcare providers to acknowledge the importance of nurses by providing them with professional development opportunities and improved participation in healthcare delivery.
The second objective is to enable nurses to access the latest information concerning best practices in nursing. Access to up-to-date information is important because it enables nurses to utilize advanced skills and methods to deliver healthcare. This leads to improved patient outcomes (ANCC, 2014). The third objective of the program is to promote the adoption of organizational standards and behaviors that enable nurses to optimize their productivity. This objective is based on the fact that the desired quality of healthcare can be achieved if nurses combine advanced knowledge and skills with behavior patterns that promote collaboration and support among the members of the healthcare team.
The Benefits of Becoming a Magnet Designated Organization
Becoming a Magnet designated organization is associated with the following benefits. First, it enables hospitals to attract and retain the best talent (Drenkard, 2010). The Forces of Magnetism enable hospitals to create an effective work environment that is characterized by professional development, career growth, and adequate remuneration. This leads to a high staff retention rate and low nurse burnout. As the level of satisfaction increases among registered nurses, the turnover rate reduces significantly (Drenkard, 2010). Second, Magnet designation enables hospitals to provide excellent healthcare that is characterized by high safety standards and patient satisfaction rates (Tuazon, 2007). Improved safety and quality of care lead to low mortality rates and chances of readmission.
Third Magnet designation promotes a collaborative culture (Drenkard, 2010). This provides an effective framework for improving the quality of care and involving nurses in decision-making initiatives. Collaboration leads to effective healthcare teams that can coordinate their activities and share resources to achieve the desired patient outcomes. Fourth, Magnet designation provides a structured framework for improving nursing standards and practice. Specifically, it promotes innovation through the creation of new knowledge and treatment methods (Tuazon, 2007). Moreover, it promotes in-service and formal training using advanced nursing curricula, which improves the skills of nurses. This enables hospitals to improve their efficiency and effectiveness at all levels of operations. The resulting improvement in the quality of healthcare leads to high patient satisfaction and reduced cases of pressure ulcers among nurses (Drenkard, 2010).
Fifth, Magnet-designated hospitals enjoy strong business growth and financial success. The hospitals are able to reduce operating costs due to low staff turnover, as well as, reduced needle-stick and other forms of injuries among nurses (Russell, 2010). Magnet-designated hospitals have high demand because their services are associated with reliability and high safety standards. The credibility of the services delivered by Magnet-designated organizations is reinforced by favorable media coverage. High demand enables Magnet-designated hospitals to enjoy high revenue, which improves their profitability and ability to expand their operations. Finally, Magnet designation is an important factor for gaining a competitive advantage in the healthcare market (Drenkard, 2010). It enables hospitals to compete worldwide because the credential is recognized as a global benchmark for quality and excellence in the health sector. Magnet-designated organizations can use the ANCC’s accreditation logos and symbols to market their services, thereby attracting clients from various parts of the world.
The Number of Magnet Designated Organizations
Although Magnet designation has clear benefits, only a few healthcare facilities have been able to achieve it in the US. Currently, there are only 401 Magnet-designated organizations in the US (ANCC, 2014). This represents approximately 6.5% of the total number of healthcare organizations in the country. In Texas, there are 31 Magnet-designated hospitals (ANCC, 2014). Houston has only seven Magnet-designated hospitals. The low rate of Magnet designation implies that the quality of healthcare in the US is still very low. One of the factors that account for the poor performance is the lack of adequate time and resources to meet the ANCC’s designation requirements (Steinbinder, 2009). Most healthcare facilities lack transformational leaders and the financial resources to invest in staff development programs. This reduces their ability to become Magnet-designated organizations.
Conclusion
The Magnet Recognition Program provides a framework for improving the quality of healthcare. It uses the Forces of Magnetism as criteria for evaluating the performance of organizations that intend to be Magnet designated. The forces promote staff development, innovation, and constant improvement of the quality of healthcare. The main benefits of Magnet designation include low staff turnover, improved patient outcomes, business success, and low mortality rates. Although these benefits are well documented, over 90% of healthcare facilities in the US are not Magnet designated. Thus, the ANCC and the government should collaborate to provide technical and financial support to hospitals and clinics to enable them to become Magnet designated. This will improve the effectiveness of the healthcare system.
References
ANCC. (2014). ANCC Magnet recognition program. Web.
Drenkard, K. (2010). The business case for Magnet. Journal of Nursing Administration, 40(6), 263-271.
Russell, J. (2010). Journey to Magnet: Cost vs. benefits. Nursing Economics, 28(5), 339-340.
Steinbinder, A. (2009). Bumps on the road to Magnet designation. Nursing Administration Quartely, 33(2), 99-104.
Tuazon, N. (2007). Is Magnet a money-maker? Nursing Management, 38(6), 24-31.
Valentine, N. (2013). Communicating nursing’s excellence and value. Nursing Economics, 31(1), 35-43.