Having recently attended the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) National Magnet Conference and ANCC Pathway to Excellence® Conference in New Orleans, Magnet is fresh on my mind. As most of you know, the Magnet Program recognizes healthcare organizations for quality patient care, nursing excellence, and innovations in professional nursing practice. It is considered the gold standard for nursing excellence.
At the conference, Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center “walked the stage” in recognition of our third Magnet designation. Memorial Hermann-TMC was the only hospital from the Texas Medical Center to receive Magnet designation this year, although many of our TMC colleagues are Magnet and Pathway to Excellence designated.
Record-Setting Attendance
It’s hard not to get excited about the Magnet program when almost 14,000 of our profession’s finest, including many from other TMC hospitals, come together to celebrate, share and learn from each other. This was the largest conference in ANCC history, and the energy was palpable.
I read recently that it is possible to recharge a magnet that has lost some of its original charge by rubbing it against a stronger magnet. I think that’s a great analogy for the Magnet and Pathway to Excellence conference.
The 26 of us who were there representing our 3,900 Memorial Hermann-TMC nurse colleagues and our entire campus came back recharged and ready to do our part to improve the health and well-being of our community and to discover innovative ways to further our profession.
Magnet Works
I believe in Magnet. I have seen it work. There is hard evidence that Magnet organizations enjoy lower nurse dissatisfaction and burnout, higher nurse job satisfaction and lower RN turnover. In addition, Magnet organizations deliver better outcomes, lower mortality rates, shorter hospital stays and a better overall patient experience.
We at the Texas Medical Center are known for our commitment to excellence. In fact, there are only two VA hospitals in the country that are magnet-accredited, and one of them is right here in Houston. Our Magnet appraisers said they were excited to come to the world-renowned Texas Medical Center and are impressed with the work that happens here. We go through the rigors, we press the status quo, and we are known and respected for innovation and superior outcomes.
Key Reflections
We learn something new on each Magnet journey. This time, I was reminded of the strength of our academic partnerships, about which we received a lot of positive feedback from our appraisers. They were particularly impressed by our TMC CNO and Dean Council and the fact that we come together quarterly to share tips and information.
I was also reminded of how much of a partnership there is here between nursing and physicians and that nurses really have a voice to impact patient care. I think it speaks to how important the nursing voice is in a complex environment like the clinical setting.
Another big strength we all share are our partnerships with community organizations, such as Nora’s Home and the March of Dimes, and with our first responders, including the Houston Police Department and Houston Fire Department. These relationships enable continuity of care and are critical to our collective success.
The fact is, those of us working in the TMC have so much to be proud of and thankful for. And I am grateful for this latest Magnet journey, which reminded me of how well we work together, in partnership, for the betterment of the large and diverse community we serve.
While I was CNO of Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital, we received our first Magnet designation, the culmination of a focused three-year journey. This year, as CNO of Memorial Hermann-TMC, we earned our second redesignation. Any quite honestly, I don’t know which was more difficult. An organization sets a bar for itself when it receives its initial designation, and the ANCC expects it to outperform that bar with each reaccreditation.
But isn’t continuous improvement what it’s all about?