Highland Hospital Achieves Magnet® Status, Gold Standard for Nursing
May 18, 2011
Highland Hospital has achieved Magnet® status, the highest recognition for nursing excellence and an honor that only about 6 percent of hospitals in the United States receive. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), which determines Magnet® status, made the announcement in a telephone conference this morning to Highland nurses and hospital leaders.
"We are simply elated," said Chief Nursing Officer Tommye Hinton, RN, MSN, who leads more than 700 Highland nurses. "This highlights the commitment our nurses have for excelling in all areas - in the way they work with patients, the way they count on and challenge each other as teammates, and in their commitment to continuous learning that strengthens their nursing practice."
The ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® recognizes health care organizations that provide the best in nursing care and professionalism in nursing practice. The term "Magnet Status" originates from a group of 41 hospitals during a national nursing shortage in the 1980s that nonetheless was able to recruit and retain nurses, serving as a "magnet" for the profession.
Highland, a University of Rochester Medical Center affiliate, is the first hospital in the Rochester area to receive Magnet® status under new and more rigorous ANCC standards based on patient outcomes criteria. Magnet® status is a four-year recognition, and three other area hospitals have previously achieved Magnet® status. URMC affiliate Strong Memorial Hospital was the first in the region to achieve designation in 2004 (they recently secured re-designation in January 2009), followed by Rochester General and F.F. Thompson hospitals.
"This recognition demonstrates that Highland provides excellent outcomes, a safe environment and care that is focused on patients and their families," said Steven I. Goldstein, President and CEO of Highland Hospital and Strong Memorial Hospital.
Hundreds of employees contributed to the rigorous application and review process for the Magnet Recognition Program®. In October, Highland submitted a 4,000-page application online to show how the hospital meets nursing standards of providing quality patient care, developing innovative practices and achieving excellence in nursing outcomes. In March, the hospital underwent a comprehensive, three-day site visit in which ANCC surveyors conducted interviews with staff and observed patient care.
Studies show patients benefit from hospitals with Magnet® status. Recognized hospitals report higher patient outcomes and satisfaction and improved recruitment and retention of nurses, physicians and other medical professionals.
Currently, there is a waiting list of graduate nurses who want to work at Highland, which nurse leaders attribute to several factors and successes:
- Nurse satisfaction scores have outperformed the national database mean of hospitals.
- Professional certification among staff nurses has increased from 20 percent to 34 percent in the last year.
- The nurse vacancy rate is consistently around less than one percent.
- There have been several strides in quality and safety outcomes, including two years with zero ventilator-associated pneumonia cases in the ICU; top recognition of Highland’s stroke team by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association; and Joint Commission disease-specific certification of Highland’s Evarts Joint and Geriatric Fracture centers.
About the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program®
The Magnet Recognition Program® administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the largest and most prominent nurses credentialing organization in the world, recognizes healthcare organizations that provide the very best in nursing care and professionalism in nursing practice. The Magnet Recognition Program® serves as the gold standard for nursing excellence and provides consumers with the ultimate benchmark for measuring quality of care. For more information about the Magnet Recognition Program® and current statistics, visit www.nursecredentialing.org/magnet.