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Children’s Memorial Medical Center in Chicago, which received its Magnet designation in December, reported a 39 percent increase in the number of RNs with experience last year and a 5 percent increase in the number of new grads, said Elaine Graf, Ph.D., PNP, RN, research and funding coordinator in the department of clinical education and Magnet project coordinator at the hospital.

Susan Grant, MS, RN, chief nursing officer and associate administrator for patient care at the University of Washington Medical Center, said the hospital’s Magnet status played an important part in her decision to move from Boston to Seattle.

“With a Magnet hospital, there’s an assumption that they value nursing at the executive level,” Grant said. “A nurse executive would not have to fight to defend nursing and say why it’s important for nursing to be part of the hospital’s strategic development. It allows the nurse executive to execute the professional practice of nursing.”

Magnet hospitals also attract other staff, said Magnet program coordinators and nurse executives. Graf said the chief medical officer at her hospital told her that several physicians and a director of medical technology came to Children’s specifically because they knew the hospital was seeking Magnet recognition. “They knew they would have a group of nurses in an environment they wanted to work in,” she said.

Although most patients aren’t aware of or understand the meaning of Magnet status, they seem to be catching on, say nurse leaders in Magnet hospitals. In some states like New Jersey, which has 12 Magnet hospitals, Magnet status has almost become a marketing tool, said Patricia Rowell, Ph.D., RN, senior policy fellow in nursing practice and policy at the American Nurses Association. “In New Jersey, people say, ‘If you’re not a Magnet facility, I’m not going to go to you.’ ”

Applications for Magnet designation have increased from 11 in 1999 to 50 so far this year, Allison said. But she and other nurse leaders see a change in the kinds of organizations applying for the award. She is receiving more inquiries from hospitals that are trying to develop their workplaces to meet Magnet standards. She is hearing from more private, for-profit hospitals, more small, rural hospitals and more specialty hospitals.

About 30 percent of health care organizations that apply for Magnet status do not receive it, Allison said. Almost all of those that don’t make it fail to meet core criteria in the first round of documentation, she said. She recommends that hospitals purchase a manual that lists standards for earning Magnet status and use it to determine which ones they meet and where they need more work.

When Graf came to work at Children’s in 1997, she knew the hospital was not ready for Magnet status. It had recently gone through a restructuring process that included cost-cutting and a high turnover rate. It had no recognized department of nursing. The staff was demoralized.

The right direction

A new administration began turning things around. It re-established the department of nursing and announced the hospital’s commitment to its nurses. It created or strengthened nursing councils for education, leadership and patient care. Administrators listened to what nurses had to say. As both physicians and nurses became happier at the hospital, their relationships improved.

“It turned around 150 percent,” said Mary Beth Benedict, RN, clinical manager for outpatient hematology and a member of the hospital’s Magnet steering committee. “There was a re-energized focus toward the importance of nursing.”

The hospital’s situation improved so much that Graf and others felt ready to apply for Magnet status about two years ago. When Children’s received the award 18 months later, she said, “the pride was palpable.”

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