Why choose a MagnetTM recognized hospital? There are multiple benefits for the consumer, the community, and the health care organization.
Patients
"Locate the nearest magnet. If you can easily check into a Magnet hospital, you'd be foolish not to."
Pekkanen, John. "Condition: Critical. With nurses leaving in droves, a stay at the hospital gets scarier every day." Reader's Digest. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Originally published September 2003, accessed www.rd.com November 2006.
"In an environment rife with controversy about patient safety in hospitals, medical error rates, and nursing shortages, consumers need to know how good the care is at their local hospital. [Magnet is] a seal of approval for quality nursing care."
Aiken, LH., Havens, D.S. & Sloane, D.M., "The Magnet Nursing Services Recognition Program: A Comparison of Two Groups of Magnet Hospitals"
American Journal of Nursing
"The staff was intensively involved at all levels during our application process and was real participation in this experience profoundly affected their commitment to the profession and to the organization."
Catherine Lyons, RN, MS, CNAA
James P. Wilmot Cancer Center
University of Rochester-Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, NY
ONS News, March 2006
"The most important thing to me as a staff nurse in a Magnet Hospital is having input into and participating in decision making related to my nursing practice through participation in Shared Governance. Our nursing leaders are committed to excellence in the delivery of patient care and provide the support and mentoring for us to provide excellent care. Nurses are important members of the health care team both in patient areas and on many nursing and multidisciplinary committees within the hospital. No workplace is perfect. Magnet Hospitals are constantly assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating their nursing services to strive for excellence. If I were looking for a job today, I would be interviewing at Magnet Hospitals."
Staff Nurse, Emergency Department
North Carolina Baptist Hospital of Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center,
April 2005
When U.S. News & World Report publishes its annual showcase of "America's Best Hospitals," being a Magnet facility contributes to the total score for quality of inpatient care. In the 2009 listing, 15 of the top 21 (71%) medical centers featured in the prestigious Honor Roll are Magnet-recognized organizations. In the Children's Hospital Honor Roll, 9 of the top 10 (90%) hospitals are ANCC Magnet recognized. (July 20, 2009).
| 2009 Honor Roll - Magnet Recognized Hospitals |
| 1. |
Johns Hopkins Hospital—Baltimore, MD |
| 2. |
Mayo Clinic—Rochester, MN |
| 3. |
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center—Los Angeles, CA |
| 4. |
Cleveland Clinic—Cleveland, OH |
| 5. |
Massachusetts General Hospital—Boston, MA |
| 8. |
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania—Philadelphia, PA |
| 9. |
Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University—St. Louis, MO |
| 10. |
Duke University Medical Center—Durham, NC |
| 11. |
University of Washington Medical Center—Seattle, WA |
| 15. |
Stanford University Hospital and Clinics—Stanford, CA |
| 16. |
Vanderbilt University Medical Center—Nashville, TN |
| 17. |
NYU Medical Center—New York, NY |
| 19. |
Mount Sinai Medical Center—New York, NY |
| 20. |
Methodist Hospital—Houston, TX |
| 21. |
Ohio State University Hospital—Columbus, OH |
| 2009 Best Children's Honor Roll - Magnet Recognized Hospitals |
| Children's Hospital (Denver) |
| Children's Hospital Boston |
| Children's Hospital Los Angeles |
| Children's Hospital of Philadelphia |
| Children's Medical Center (Dallas) |
| Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center |
| John Hopkins Children's Center (Baltimore) |
| St. Louis Children's Hospital-Washington University |
| Texas Children's Hospital (Houston) |
*From U.S. News and World Report—Best Hospitals 2009 ( http://health.usnews.com/sections/health/best-hospitals )
Manager Compensation
A recent salary survey of 1,400 nurses showed that "Nurse leaders in Magnet hospitals earn more (4.8%) than their colleagues in non-Magnet facilities . . . Facilities with Magnet recognition often require their nurse leaders to be educated at higher levels, evaluated on performance outcomes relative to nurse-sensitive patient outcomes, and significant contributors to the community. These requirements may lead to the necessity of paying at higher rates to attract and retain top performers."
Nursing Management Salary Survey 2005.
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. Vol36(7), July 2005, 18-27.
Nurse Recruitment and Retention
Dr. Linda Aiken's independent research shows that Magnet-designated health care organizations consistently outperform their peers in recruiting and retaining nurses, resulting in increased stability in patient care systems across the organization. These "nurse friendly" organizations benefit from reduced costs due to low turnover, which results in greater institutional stability.
"We created nursing consuls that establish policy, and established every nursing unit as a nursing department so that each department didn't have layers of bureaucracy."
Harvey Yorke, Chief Executive Officer,
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, Bennington, VT
Magnet recognized March, 2002
"By recognizing the art and science of nursing as a life long learning process, Magnet hospitals impact patient outcomes by investing in the ongoing nursing education and career development needed to provide safe, high quality patient care…"
Janice Nuuhiwa, RN, MSN, CPON, Staff Development Specialist, Hem/Onc/Trans
Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL
Magnet recognized December, 2001
"Magnet hospitals consistently provide the highest quality of care."
According to a study conducted at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing, Philadelphia,
Bensing, K. "Magnet hospitals provide havens for quality care and happy nurses." ADVANCE for Nurses (DC/Baltimore): April 10, 2000: 27.
"The label 'Magnet hospitals' originally was given to a group of U.S. hospitals that were able to successfully recruit and retain professional nurses during a national nursing shortage in the early 1980s. Studies of Magnet hospitals highlight the leadership characteristics and professional practice attributes of nurses within these organizations. Hospitals selected met the following criteria: 1) nurses within the hospitals considered them good places to practice nursing, 2) the hospitals had low turnover and vacancy rates, and 3) the hospitals were located in areas where there was significant regional competition for nursing services."
Scott, J., Sochalski, J, and Aiken L. , "Review of Magnet Hospital Research: Findings and Implications for Professional Nursing Practice" Journal of Nursing Administration. 29(1):9-19, January, 1999.
Financial Savings
Magnet organizations continually report experiencing positive financial benefits. These benefits arise both from direct cost savings as well as cost avoidance. Some of the direct cost savings reported by Magnet organizations include:
- Enhanced partnering success due to recognition by others of the value of the organization having achieved ANCC Magnet recognition;
- Ability to establish endowments. In one case, the family noted the historical contributions of nursing to the mission of the hospital and that the nurses achieved Magnet recognition based on high standards of practice for which they were known;
- Increase in the number of nursing focused press and media coverage and recognition (by up to 600% in one organization).
Some of the cost avoidance financial benefits include:
- Remaining competitive in the regional market without having to pay the highest salaries;
- Decreasing temporary labor costs;
- Achieving a strong bond rating in part due to the quality of the department of nursing and Magnet recognition;
- Beds are not closed due to staffing even with the increase in PICU and NICU beds; and
- Avoiding diversion due to lack of staff.
In 2001, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics embarked upon the Magnet preparation process using it as a blueprint for development and plan to manage their workforce issues.
"We had a 14% vacancy rate at the time and were using 295 travelers. Today, we have less than a 2% vacancy rate and no travelers."
Barbara J. Hannon, MSN, RN
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA
Nursing Economics, July-August, 2006
Collegial Interdisciplinary Relationships
A basic premise of the Magnet Designation is a climate that reinforces collaborative working relationships.
"I don't hesitate to discuss issues/problems with the physicians. I can collaborate with them in the decision making process. I am treated with respect not only for my professionalism, but for my knowledge."
Linda Otero, RN,C, staff nurse
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, Bennington,
Magnet recognized March, 2002
As Dr. Aiken and Donna Sullivan Havens reported, "They foster respect and caring for the individual (patients and staff), and actively bring out the best in people."
JONA, February 1999, pg. 16.
Competitive Advantage
Magnet organizations report that they enjoy a significant competitive advantage over non-Magnet peers.
"Becoming a Magnet hospital was identified as a critical business priority for our organization from 2004-2005. Fourteen teams were designated to address each force of Magnetism, and all staff members completed the Magnet self-assessment survey, which allowed us to identify opportunities and validate our existing strengths."
Barbara Bonificio, RN, MSN, OCN®
St. Peter's Hospital, Albany, NY
ONS News, March 2006
"We have been able to negotiate stronger HMO care contracts. We have also been able to attract highly qualified MDs and Allied Health Professionals because they knew that we had achieved Magnet (Radiology, Psychiatry, Pharmacy, Neurology). They noted that they were interviewing at multiple hospitals but found CMH more attractive because ANCC Magnet recognition was a reflection of the quality of the nursing staff they would be working with. We have increased our market share and have excellent patient/family satisfaction scores."
Elaine Graff, PhD, RN, PNP, Magnet Project Director
Children's Memorial Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Magnet recognized December 2001
Seven of the Eleven Healthcare Organizations Listed in Fortune magazine's 2008 100 Best Companies to Work For® are Magnet-recognized facilities or have Magnet facilities in their system.
(Source: Fortune, "100 Best Companies to Work For")
| Ranking |
| 10. |
Methodist Hospital
(part of the Methodist Hospital System) Houston, TX |
| 18. |
Riverside Methodist, Columbus, OH, and Grant Medical Center, Columbus, OH (part of Ohio Health) |
| 56. |
Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, CA (part of Scripps Health) |
| 59. |
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN |
| 75. |
Southern Ohio Medical Center, Portsmouth, OH |
| 85. |
Lehigh Valley Hospital & Health Network, Allentown, PA |
| 94. |
South Miami Hospital and Baptist Hospital of Miami, Miami, FL
(part of Baptist Health South Fla.) |