Are You Ready for Magnet?

Organizations decide when to submit their written applications within a one-year period that starts one year from the month in which it submits its initial application form and fee, i.e., if you submit your initial form in January 2008, you can schedule your written documentation for submission any time from February 2009 to January 2010. The one-year waiting period gives you time to prepare written documentation and the Magnet Program Office time to identify and schedule an appraisal team.

You must answer “yes” to the following questions to be eligible to apply for Magnet recognition. Complete descriptions of the eligibility requirements are available online at ANCC.

1. Does your organization provide or exist within a healthcare organization that provides inpatient, outpatient, or nontraditional nursing services?
2. Does your organization include one or more nursing settings within a single governing authority and one individual serving as Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) responsible for sustaining the standards of nursing practice in all areas?
3. Will the CNO have participated on the organization’s highest governing decision-making and strategic planning body for at least 12 months before you submit your written application?
4. Does the CNO have a Master’s degree and either a Baccalaureate or Master’s degree in nursing?
5. Do you have the American Nurses Association’s Scope and Standards for Nurse Administrators (ANA 2004) implemented throughout nursing?
6. Do you have policies and procedures in place that permit and encourage nurses to confidentially express their concerns about their professional practice environment without retribution?
7. Has our organization committed an unfair labor practice involving a nurse in the three-year period preceding submission of your written application?
8. Is your organization in compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws, regulations, statutes, and accrediting body standards?
9. Are you collecting or able to collect data on ten indicators defined by a required list of baseline indicators (pressure ulcers prevalence and occurrence; nursing care hours provided per patient day; nursing staff satisfaction with trending/benchmarking; patient injury rates/falls occurrence; patient satisfaction relative to nursing care, pain management, patient education, and overall care; and skill mix of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses/licensed vocational nurses, and unlicensed staff)?

If you answered “yes” to all nine questions, the next step is to assess your organization’s current performance on the 14 Forces of Magnetism. Each Force has from 6 to 28 Sources of Evidence that define the Force and to which you must respond with written documentation. ANCC has an online self-assessment you can use to evaluate how your organization performs in 62 key areas.