Magnet Hospitals Raise The Bar: Designation Widely Considered Highest Credential For Nursing

Pictured above: Conway Regional Medical Center employees (from left) Tanya Alexander, RN; Madison Beatty, patient care tech; and Leisa Green, RN, share a light moment. (Photo provided)

Only about 10 percent of hospitals in the country have received American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Program designation for efforts that focus on “high-quality patient outcomes,” “high-quality patient experience” and “superior nurse engagement.”

Four Arkansas institutions have been awarded the Magnet designation: Arkansas Children’s in Little Rock; Baxter Health in Mountain Home, Conway Regional Medical Center and CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs.

Institution officials said Magnet designation has been beneficial in many ways.

Arkansas Children’s

Magnet designation is widely considered the highest international credential for the professional nursing practice and signifies excellence in clinical care, said Heather Cherry, chief nursing officer for Arkansas Children’s, where she leads the largest division of team members across the state’s nationally ranked pediatric health system.

Heather Cherry

“Magnet recognition has been shown to provide specific benefits to health care organizations and their communities, including higher patient satisfaction, lower mortality rates and increased job satisfaction among nurses,” Cherry said. “We are thrilled to share this achievement with nurse candidates as they consider joining the Arkansas Children’s team.”

Achieving Magnet status requires meeting rigorous benchmarks. The comprehensive designation process includes an electronic application, written patient care documentation, an on-site visit and a review by the Commission on Magnet Recognition, all requiring widespread participation from leadership and staff.

Cherry said organizations reapplying for Magnet must provide evidence of how staff members sustained and improved Magnet concepts and quality since their original designation. The Arkansas Children’s redesignation process, completed in 2022, included more than 500 staff interviews over the course of three days.

“The Arkansas Children’s team upholds a commitment to excellence that helps us embody those standards in our daily care,” Cherry said. “By recognizing our world-class nursing care, Magnet status further underscores collaboration across our entire system as we advance children’s best interests together.”

The Magnet designation covers all aspects of nursing from direct patient care to continuing education and many other areas of the hospital. Cherry said the recognition really shows a culture of excellence at Arkansas Children’s.

“Our nurses are surrounded by an exceptional team committed to the improved outcomes of our patients,” she said.

Baxter Health

Baxter Health has seen such success with efforts to improve patient outcomes through Magnet program achievements in nursing that the hospital is now working to branch out to the rest of the health system.

“Our big push going forward now that we have our Magnet program designation is promoting shared governance organization-wide,” said Baxter Health Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Rachel Gilbert. “We want to pull everyone together in all the departments of the hospital so these other departments can share the benefits of shared governance we have seen in nursing. There are other employees who want a voice in the structure, so it is not all top down. Already, the results we are seeing are pretty amazing.”

Rachel Gilbert

Gilbert said the hospital’s Magnet designation validates years of hard work by the Baxter Health team to achieve improved patient outcomes, a better patient experience, more employee satisfaction and a culture that supports all of these components. She also credits the entire community supporting the nursing-led efforts.

Hospitals must achieve two years of outperforming the Magnet mean in eight different metrics to even apply for Magnet Designation.

“Most facilities chose to utilize outside Magnet consultants to facilitate success,” Gilbert said. “Baxter Health met these requirements without a consultant by collaboration of all nursing and ancillary departments across the organization to meet and exceed all requirements. This was made possible by the steadfast leadership of former CNO Shannon Nachtigal, who was instrumental in creating the patient-centered culture we have today.”

The areas covered by Magnet designation include all eligible inpatient and ambulatory settings of Baxter Health. An example of meeting Magnet criteria would be a quality improvement effort like one of the inpatient units identifying a patient safety issue on their unit regarding falls with injury. The unit-based council met to determine the cause and investigated the best evidence-based practice for decreasing falls. The information was then presented to the Shared Governance Council, where nurses representing all units discussed plans to reduce falls with injury. After implementing the chosen intervention, data supported decreased falls with injury resulting in improved patient outcomes.

“Baxter Health is proud to be family- and community-oriented,” Gilbert said. “We are who we say we are in our mission, purpose and values. We provide compassionate care beyond measure. Our purpose is to champion access to compassionate, high-quality care by remaining independent, strategically comprehensive and community-focused.”

Conway Regional Medical Center

Prior to pursuing Magnet designation, Conway Regional Medical Center implemented a shared governance model ensuring that front-line clinical nurses and other clinical professionals have a legitimate voice in their practice, said CRMC Magnet Program Director Suzanne L. Harris.

Suzanne Harris

“Conway Regional’s model is unique in that it is an interprofessional model,” Harris said. “Clinical professionals including nurses and non-nurses such as radiology technologists, respiratory therapists and speech pathologists lead departmental councils with member representatives from all roles in the department. These individuals identify opportunities for improvement and lead related performance improvement projects at the departmental level. The council leaders participate in Patient Care Governing Congress, where organization-wide decision-making aimed at improving patient outcomes and experience is conducted.”

Harris said this level of engagement by clinical nurses and other clinical professionals provides the basis for achieving Magnet designation. The designation process includes providing over 90 examples of specific standards related to transformational leadership, structural empowerment, exemplary professional practice and new knowledge, innovations and improvements. Supporting evidence must be provided to substantiate the work completed.

In 2016, Conway Regional nursing leaders committed to following the Magnet model for nursing excellence. Executive leaders supported this journey. Examples of policies and initiatives implemented or enhanced because of this decision included a certification incentive policy, a tuition reimbursement/programs to support RN-to-BSN eduction and a clinical advancement program that provides incentive payment for clinical professionals who document activities in one of four domains.

Conway Regional also has a partnership with the University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing to mutually support academic preparation of nurses and research and scholarly inquiry at CRMC. Other partnerships are with Arkansas Tech University and University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton.

The CRMC initial Magnet documentation was submitted prior to COVID-19. After review of the documentation, a site visit was scheduled for April 2020. The site visit was postponed due to the pandemic and eventually held virtually in July 2020. Conway Regional was one of the first organizations in the country to use a virtual format for the site visit.

The journey that resulted in Magnet designation positively impacted CRMC in several ways, said Matt Troup, president and CEO.

Matt Troup

“Nurses and other professionals are empowered in an entirely new way to lead change that improves patient outcomes and experience. It increased interprofessional collaboration,” he said. “And new employees, especially newly graduated RNs, communicate that they are seeking employment at a Magnet-designated organization for the professional nursing practice environment.

“There have been improvements in patient and family engagement through activities such as the Patient and Family Advisory Committee. We established a spirit of inquiry within the culture. There is more focus on implementation of evidence-based practices and nursing research.

“The rate of RNs who hold a BSN or higher degree increased by 25 percent and is significantly higher than the Arkansas overall BSN rate. The rate of RNs who hold a professional board certification increased by more than 200 percent. The benchmarking of nurse-sensitive quality outcomes increases awareness of opportunities for improvement and recognizes successes.”

CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. (Photo provided)

CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs

Magnet designation is bestowed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and is the highest honor for an organization for professional nursing practice. It recognizes excellence in nursing leadership, clinical practice, innovations and positive outcomes.

The rigorous process for Magnet designation includes site visits, nurse and patient interviews and public comments. Angie Longing, chief nurse executive at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs, said nurses are at the core of the patient experience.

Angie Longing

“Magnet designation is an incredible honor for our amazing nurses and all of our health care professionals are committed to this healing ministry and committed to providing compassionate care for this community,” Longing said. “It recognizes not only the excellence of our nursing staff but also this ministry’s dedication to their ongoing development through nursing education. We believe our nurses are crucial components to a patient’s health care experience and positive outcomes, and that is why we work to train and bring the very best nursing talent here to Hot Springs.

“The nurses at CHI St. Vincent are some of the most committed and professional health care professionals in our state. Our journey through this designation process has empowered them to reach their full potential and truly made an already incredible hospital even better. As we move forward, we remain committed to supporting our nurses through education, development and collaborative practice as we work to continually attract the very best nurses to CHI St. Vincent hospitals so they can deliver the highest quality care to our patients.”