MAGNET HOSPITALS: How did the idea come about?

During the nursing shortage of the early 1980s, there were an estimated 100,000 vacancies nationwide and inadequate staffing in over three-quarters of U.S. hospitals.  In an effort to alleviate the shortage, the American Academy of Nursing engaged four AAN fellows to choose a topic and conduct research on nurses employed at hospitals.  The author of this brief article – Muriel Poulin – and her colleagues Margaret McClure, Margaret Sovie and Mabel Wandelt, decided to study the characteristics of hospitals that were doing a good job of retaining nursing staff.  They surveyed 41 hospitals and prepared a report that served as the basis of the later Magnet Recognition Program.

When I stop to consider how much the program has progressed, I cannot get over it.  It has been a remarkable evolution that now includes hundreds of healthcare organizations around the world…” (Dr. Poulin, page 73).

Sources:

Poulin, M. (2017, February). A remarkable journey: Why the Magnet Recognition Program continues to resonate today. JONA. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 47(2), 72-73. Click here for publisher’s website: http://journals.lww.com/jonajournal/Abstract/2017/02000/A_Remarkable_Journey__Why_the_Magnet_Recognition.2.aspx

American Nurses Credentialing Center. (2017). ANCC Magnet Recognition Program. Click here: http://www.nursecredentialing.org/Magnet  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2003 rc@aha.org