The Magnet Recognition Program Research Paper

The Magnet Recognition Program (MRP) was introduced by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to promote the use of best practices to provide healthcare in the US. The program provides elaborate criteria for benchmarking healthcare delivery to improve quality, clinical outcomes, and satisfaction among nurses. This paper sheds light on the significance of achieving Magnet designation. Specifically, the paper will discuss the process of achieving the Magnet designation. The benefits that are enjoyed by the healthcare facilities that have achieved Magnet designation will also be discussed.

Meaning of Magnet Designation
Magnet designation is a credential that is awarded to healthcare facilities such as hospitals that have been able to . Thus, a Magnet designated healthcare organization is one that has met all the ANCCs standards of excellence in healthcare provision. The standards focus on three areas namely, quality of patient care, nursing excellence, and innovation in professional nursing practice (ANCC, 2014). Meeting the standards in these three areas enables healthcare organizations to utilize high-quality nursing practices to deliver healthcare. As a result, the Magnet Recognition Program is considered one of the most reliable sources of best practices in nursing globally. Consumers of healthcare services use Magnet designation as a criterion for evaluating the quality standards of healthcare providers (ANCC, 2014). Generally, consumers tend to choose hospitals and clinics that have achieved Magnet designation as their healthcare providers. This choice is based on the fact that Magnet-designated organizations have the best talent, equipment, and treatment methods to deliver healthcare.

The Process of Achieving Magnet Designation
Healthcare institutions that intend to become Magnet-designated are required to make a formal application to the ANCC. Upon receiving the application, the ANCC begins the appraisal process to ensure that the applicant is able to meet its quality standards. During the appraisal, the applicant is expected to demonstrate an ability to achieve all the ANCC Forces of Magnetism (ANCC, 2014). The Forces of Magnetism refer to the characteristics that define nursing excellence in healthcare institutions. There are 14 Forces of Magnetism that focus on various aspects of healthcare provision. The forces that focus on enhancing nurses skills and satisfaction include professional development, the image of nursing, using nurses as teachers, and personnel policies. Using nurses as teachers promotes the involvement of professional nurses in educational activities in the healthcare organization to improve their skills and knowledge (ANCC, 2014). Moreover, the organization is required to establish effective programs to ensure professional development (Russell, 2010). The program should promote formal education, career development, and certification. The organization must improve the image of nursing by recognizing that the services delivered by nurses have an important and direct influence on its ability to deliver patient care.

The forces that include nursing leadership, organizational structure, management style, professional models of delivering care, quality of care, quality improvement, autonomy, and consultation resources (ANCC, 2014). The organization is expected to have nurse leaders who are knowledgeable, strong, and risk-takers. The organizational structure should be flat, thereby and effective response to change. The management style adopted by the organization should promote participation and the provision of valuable feedback at all levels of management (Valentine, 2013). The organizations model of delivering healthcare should promote responsibility and enhance nurses ability to provide medical services to patients.

The forces that enhance patients satisfaction include interdisciplinary relationships, as well as, the relationship between the community and the healthcare organization (ANCC, 2014). The healthcare organization is expected to establish strong relationships with the communities that it serves to enhance patient outcomes. Moreover, the organization must have conflict management strategies to promote effective collaboration among various members of its healthcare team (Valentine, 2013).

Apart from achieving all the Forces of Magnetism, the healthcare organization is required to demonstrate structural empowerment, transformational leadership, and professional practice. In addition, the organization has to demonstrate its commitment to the creation of new knowledge and innovation in nursing practice (Russell, 2010). The organization that intends to achieve Magnet designation must submit supporting documents as proof of its compliance with the ANCCs requirements. Upon receiving all the necessary documents, the Magnet Recognition Program team visits the organizations premises to . After the site visit, the application is evaluated and the organization becomes Magnet-designated if it meets all the requirements.

Creation of the Magnet Recognition Program
The Magnet Recognition Program was created to acknowledge healthcare providers that deliver the best nursing care. The acknowledgment aims to improve the quality of healthcare in the US and other parts of the world. In this regard, the program was created to achieve three main objectives (Drenkard, 2010). The first objective of the program is to create awareness about the significance of the nursing profession in the health sector. During the 1970s and 1980s, most hospitals in the US and other countries had a severe shortage of nurses partly because the nursing profession was not considered a vital aspect of the healthcare delivery system (Drenkard, 2010). As a result, many nurses left the profession due to dissatisfaction, as well as, lack of professional development and career growth opportunities. The Magnet Recognition Program was created to encourage healthcare providers to acknowledge the importance of nurses by providing them with professional development opportunities and improved participation in healthcare delivery.

The second objective is to enable nurses to access the latest information concerning best practices in nursing. Access to is important because it enables nurses to utilize advanced skills and methods to deliver healthcare. This leads to improved patient outcomes (ANCC, 2014). The third objective of the program is to promote the adoption of organizational standards and behaviors that enable nurses to optimize their productivity. This objective is based on the fact that the desired quality of healthcare can be achieved if nurses combine advanced knowledge and skills with behavior patterns that promote collaboration and support among the members of the healthcare team