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Memorial Hospital again gets highest nursing credential

Memorial-in-Belleville    Memorial Hospital in Belleville again has attained Magnet recognition as part of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Recognition Program.  
    This voluntary credentialing program for hospitals recognizes excellence in nursing and is the highest honor an organization can receive for professional nursing practice.
    The announcement was made by American Nurses Credentialing Center officials who cited Memorial as a “role model for all Magnet organizations.”  They also noted that Memorial values innovation as “clinical and operational innovation was evident” in their site visit.
    Memorial has adopted a relationship-based care — RBC — model that focuses on building and fostering relationships with patients and their families, with colleagues and with yourself.  The appraisers noted, that “from the boardroom to the bedside, RBC is evident at Memorial.”
    Magnet recognition has become the gold standard for nursing excellence and is taken into consideration when the public judges health-care organizations.
    To achieve initial Magnet recognition, organizations must pass a rigorous and lengthy process that demands widespread participation from leadership and staff. The process begins with the submission of an electronic application, followed by written documentation demonstrating qualitative and quantitative evidence regarding patient care and outcomes. If scores from the written documentation fall within a range of excellence, an on-site visit will occur to thoroughly assess the applicant. After this rigorous onsite review process, the Commission on Magnet will review the completed appraisal report and vote to determine whether Magnet recognition will be granted.
    An organization seeking to reapply for Magnet recognition must provide documented evidence of how Magnet concepts, performance, and quality were sustained and improved over the four-year period since the hospital received its initial recognition.
    In particular, the Magnet model is designed to provide a framework for nursing practice, research, and measurement of outcomes. Through this framework, American Nurses Credentialing Center can assess applicants across a number of components and dimensions to gauge an organization’s nursing excellence.
    The foundation of this model is composed of various elements deemed essential to delivering superior patient care. These include the quality of nursing leadership and coordination and collaboration across specialties, as well as processes for measuring and improving the quality and delivery of care.
    Magnet recognition has been shown to provide specific benefits to hospitals and their communities, such as:
    • Higher patient satisfaction with nurse communication, availability of help, and receipt of discharge information;
    • Lower risk of 30-day mortality and lower failure to rescue;
    • Higher job satisfaction among nurses; and
    • Lower nurse reports of intentions to leave position.
    Being recognized as a Magnet facility for the second time is a great achievement for Memorial Hospital, as it continues to proudly belong to the Magnet community—a select group of 391 health-care organizations out of nearly 6,000 U.S. health-care organizations.
    Memorial was initially designated a Magnet hospital in 2008. Hospitals must reapply for Magnet recognition every four years based on adherence to Magnet concepts, demonstrated improvements in patient care and quality.
    The Magnet Recognition Program administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the largest and most prominent nurses credentialing organization in the world, recognizes health-care 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.
    In 1983, the American Academy of Nursing Task Force on Nursing Practice in Hospitals conducted a study to identify work environments that attract and retain well-qualified nurses who promote quality patient, resident and client care. Forty-one of 163 institutions possessed qualities that enabled greater capacity to attract and retain nurses, and were therefore described as “magnet” hospitals. The characteristics that distinguished those organizations from others are still known as the “Forces of Magnetism.”
    Magnet is a registered trademark.

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