Thursday, Baptist Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., received the nation’s top honor for nursing excellence called “Magnet.” The Magnet Recognition Program® is given by the American Nurses' Credentialing Center (ANCC), an affiliate of the American Nurses Association, to hospitals satisfying a set of criteria designed to measure quality patient care and professional nursing practice. Only seven percent of hospitals in America have been granted Magnet recognition and Baptist is the only hospital in Mississippi to receive this designation.
“This honor is the ultimate affirmation of quality and excellence in the care of patients from nursing and from everyone in the organization. Words cannot express the gratitude we have towards all our staff taking us on this journey to improve patient outcomes at the same time increasing job satisfaction,” said Baptist Health Systems Chief Nursing Officer and Baptist Medical Center Chief Operating Officer Bobbie Ware, MHSA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE. “Baptist is committed to being leaders in healthcare, and reaching Magnet Status validates the organization’s work to provide the best care from a team effort and through evidenced-based practices.”
"Patients today have many options when it comes to choosing a health care provider. It's Baptist's goal to provide integrity, compassion, excellence, stewardship and innovation to our patients and their loved ones. We are extremely proud to have earned our profession's highest level of recognition,” said Ware.
ANCC defines a Magnet hospital as one where nursing care results in excellent patient outcomes and where nurses maintain high levels of job satisfaction. Magnet status includes various departments throughout the medical center being involved in the evaluation of outcomes and decision-making in patient care delivery. Further, it recognizes that the organization provides resources for nurses to continue life-long learning and shows a low staff nurse turnover rate.
Magnet designation first emerged in 1990 as a way to recognize hospitals that successfully attracted and retained high-quality nurses, even during periods of nursing shortages. The program is now based on five core principles: transformational leadership; structural empowerment; exemplary professional practice; new knowledge, innovations and improvements; and empirical outcomes.
Baptist has implemented a Shared Governance Model of Nursing over the past 10 years. This model integrates core values and beliefs giving all staff, at the patient bedside, a voice in Baptist practices. With nurses working together across departments with shared goals and purpose, much can be accomplished. Receiving Magnet designation requires evidence of high standards of care achieved by the entire organization.
Baptist Nursing Excellence and Research Coordinator Tina Magers, Ph.D., RN-BC added, “Our Journey to Excellence involves everything from ensuring best practices are used daily to providing the highest quality
patient care and a healthy work environment where everyone's role is valued. It also requires providing a safe
-more-
environment, and fostering a strong, collaborative work effort with physicians and others on the healthcare team.”
Applying for Magnet was an extremely complex process involving months of highly detailed work. Magers led the task along with nursing leaders across the organization. Documentation had to include numerous examples of excellence, and evidence that structures and processes are in place to promote consistent quality outcomes.
“Magnet wants to know the examples are not just a one-time sampling, requiring repeated demonstration that our organization supports an ongoing success of providing excellent patient care,” said Magers. “The standard is very high. Magnet doesn’t want to know how many times we did something - like patient teaching, for example, but rather what are the results of patient education.”
