Magnet recognition®

Children's is among a distinguished list of Magnet hospitals nationwide that have achieved this gold standard for nursing excellence. Given by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), an arm of the American Nurses Association, Magnet™ status means Children's nurses meet national excellence standards for quality of patient care, innovative practice and the value placed upon the profession of nursing within the organization.

For patients and their families, The Magnet™ program provides a benchmark to measure the quality of care they receive based on indicators and standards of nursing practice as defined in the ANCC's Scope and Standards for Nurse Administrators (2004).

Magnet designation, which is sought voluntarily, is given only after a rigorous review process that involves thousands of pages of documentation on how the “forces” of Magnet, or qualitative factors in nursing, apply to the hospital. These forces of Magnetism were first identified by research in 1983. There is also an on-site assessment that reviews how these qualitative factors are put into everyday practice.

In practical terms, Magnet designation means nurses are fully involved in key decisions on the delivery of care, their shared voices are heard in matters of hospital policy and they are led by a strong, visionary nursing executive.

For more information on Magnet at Children's, contact Victoria England, RN, MBA, program director for Magnet, at 214-456-2802 or Victoria.England@childrens.com.