A Year After the Magnet Award

It’s hard to believe that a year has already passed since St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital became the first hospital in Texas to be awarded the Magnet designation, the highest honor a hospital can achieve for patient care. Without question, that honor from the American Nurses Credentialing Center has helped St. Luke’s recruit the most talented nursing school graduates to care for our patients – young, enthusiastic caregivers like Jodi Beevers.

Before Ms. Beevers finished her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at New Mexico State University last December, she read a story about the Magnet designation and decided to learn more about it on the Internet. She was intrigued that the American Nurses Credentialing Center believes that a key way to show that an institution values nursing is through shared leadership, where staff nurses make clinical decisions that drive policy and procedure development. As she read on, she saw that St. Luke’s was, at that time, one of less than three dozen hospitals nationwide honored with Magnet status.

She checked us out, and the rest, as they say, is history. She began working here in January, and is now a valuable member of our cardiovascular nursing staff in the new Denton A. Cooley Building. She appreciates that when St. Luke’s looks at a new product, such as IV catheters with protective devices to prevent needle-sticks, staff nurses evaluate them and tell administrators which one they think is best. Responsibility and accountability aren’t given only to the "top" people at St. Luke’s.

With the national nursing deficit already at 220,000 and experts estimating that the United States will be short 540,000 nurses in 15 years, it is obvious that health care institutions like St. Luke’s cannot rely on any one method of addressing the nursing shortage. Our reputation for nursing excellence does, in fact, act like a magnet, yet it is but only one way we’re meeting the challenge. Even in heavy industry, the most powerful magnets have limits.

One innovative approach to the problem was the "bargain" made between area nursing schools and Texas Medical Center hospitals. Hospital nursing departments promised that if the schools would increase their enrollments, we would help supply qualified teachers. The result was that the schools enrolled an additional 200 nursing students and hospitals donated the equivalent of 20 full-time faculty members. We currently have 10 staff members teaching part-time. How’s the future look? Well, qualified students are exceeding our wildest expectations. A local school has 700 applications for 120 spots this fall.

We also draw nurses from: a summer extern program for nursing students; a work study program for University of Texas students; a nursing fellowship program which provides scholarships; scholarships provided from the Texas Workforce Commission; programs on preceptor development; a mentorship program and an international nurse acculturation program. St. Luke’s has also made a commitment to employees who would like to continue their education by increasing yearly tuition reimbursement from $1,500 to $2,500. Retaining good nurses is also part of solving the nurse-staffing problem. That’s where a St. Luke’s program called "Expert Nurses Have Attitude and Clincinal Nursing Excellence" comes in. The seminar series focuses on issues that help the senior staff nurse acquire greater clinical expertise. In addition, this summer we are beginning a program called Embark, which helps nurses who have been out of practice for awhile regain their skills. We already have 70 nurses interested.

Some of the energetic nurses who work at St. Luke’s are taking it upon themselves to inspire and educate the next generation of nurses. For example, three nurses in St. Luke’s operating room – Laurie Mitchell, Beverly Griffin, and Patricia McDaniel – have "adopted" a class at North Forest High School. St. Luke’s is also in the development phase of working with minority high students from throughout greater Houston.

Ms. Mitchell and registered nurse Valerie Arkadie also work with nurses in training at Prairie View A&M University.

Yes, St. Luke’s continues to search for new ways to deal with the shortage of nurses. Of course, it is also imperative that the entire health care industry continue to increase its efforts to enhance the image of nursing to attract new professionals to the field. One way to help do this is to encourage all hospitals to put shared leadership into action – a means of virtually ensuring that nurses develop new leadership skills and grow ever more comfortable with increased responsibility for the well-being of those we serve.

Once health care administrators understand that to motivate we must delegate, hospitals – despite the present worldwide nursing shortage – will act like magnets, attracting a large number of the best and brightest to care for their patients.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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