5 minute read
High-Five for Magent
High-Five for Magnet
Boone Health nurses are recognized a fifth time for transformative patient care.
On Sept. 24, 2024, Boone Health employees gathered in the hospital’s conference center for a special announcement. As they took their seats and noted the five covered easels placed beside the podium, some made an educated guess about what would be announced, but knowing didn’t dampen their enthusiasm.
At 9:15 a.m., Chief Nursing Executive Shannon Kuczynski, MHSA, MSN-A, RN, NE-BC started a remote call with Adam Meier, MSN, RN, NE-BIC from the Commission on Magnet and several Magnet Recognition Program specialists.
“The Commission has reviewed all of your submitted documentation and the findings from your most recent site visit,” Adam began. “It is my high honor and privilege to officially notify you that the Commission on Magnet has unanimously voted to credential Boone Health as a Magnet organization.”
The room erupted with applause and confetti cannons shot streamers as Boone Hospital Center became the 70th hospital in the nation and fourth in Missouri to earn five consecutive Magnet designations.
Since 1994, the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® has designated over 600 hospitals worldwide as demonstrating high standards for nursing excellence. Magnet is not an award, but a designation a hospital must earn and reapply for every four years. Less than 10% of hospitals in the world are Magnetdesignated, and fewer than 1% have been designated five times.
Nurses at Magnet organizations report feeling more engaged with their organization’s strategic patient care goals and more empowered to improve their patients’ outcomes and experiences. Magnet nurses enjoy opportunities for professional growth and are encouraged to use evidence-based research to develop best practices in delivering care. A Magnet organization benefits the nurses who work there, the patients they care for, and even the nursing profession itself.
Boone Hospital earned its first Magnet designation in 2005 and was redesignated in 2009, 2014, 2019, and 2024, but the journey started in 2003 when Mary Beck, DNP, RN, NE-BC, FAONL, then vicepresident of patient care services, explored the expanding program.
“I went to a conference, got the manual, and did a gap analysis,” said Mary, who now serves on the Boone Health Board of Directors. “I knew it was going to be a challenge because there were a lot of standards we had to meet, but I knew in my heart that we did meet them.”
“Back when Magnet first became a stamp of excellence for nursing, nurse leaders like Mary had to fight for it,” said Shannon, a self-described Magnet cheerleader and advocate. Throughout her nursing career, she has championed the Magnet Recognition Program at three healthcare organizations including Boone.
Boone Hospital’s first Magnet application was a 15-inch-tall stack of three-ring binders that were mailed to Magnet appraisers. The most recent application was submitted electronically in 2023, with 380 separate documents totaling 2,156 pages, covering 82 standards in 14 hospital departments.
The documentation provides examples of nursing-led initiatives and outcomes in four key areas: Transformational Leadership; Structural Empowerment; Exemplary Professional Practice; and New Knowledge, Innovation, and Improvements. A few examples include improving patients’ length of stay, encouraging more nurses to earn certification, recognition for preceptors, and a research study on how virtual reality relaxation can help nurses manage stress.
After the documentation is reviewed, the Magnet program schedules a virtual site visit. From August 5 through 7, 2024, over 250 Boone Health leaders, nurses, support staff, and physicians met with surveyors and led virtual unit tours. Representatives from United Way, Stephens College, and the Columbia Chamber of Commerce joined in to attest to Boone’s support for our community.
“After the visit, the Magnet appraisers spoke highly of our nurses’ engagement, support from nursing leadership, and level of autonomy,” Shannon said. “We could not have made that impression without the participation of so many Boone Health team members and stakeholders.”
Several Boone nurses act as Magnet Champions who motivate their peers to embrace the program. Champions meet with different nursing units to help them prepare for redesignation and share what Magnet means to them.
Deanna Powers, BSN, RN, NE-BC, a Boone nurse for 22 years and Magnet Champion for 10, said, “After assisting in writing the Magnet document, I have a new appreciation for nurses who speak up and have ideas for change. Bedside nurses often know what works best for their patients, and it’s nice to work in a hospital that supports improving processes. Working in a Magnet organization has proven to me that the nursing voice is heard.”
Surgical nurse Melissa Miller, RN, became a Champion after attending a national Magnet conference in 2021. She said, “At the conference, I became aware of how unique Boone Hospital is. A lot of what was considered innovative at other facilities is normal practice at Boone. I once thought if you do the process, you get the designation, but I’ve learned that not all organizations obtain Magnet.”
The Magnet Recognition Program acknowledges healthcare organizations that empower their nurses at every level to transform the future of healthcare and affirms the work Boone Hospital has been doing for over a century.
“Boone culture is Magnet culture,” Shannon says. “Magnet provides a structure and accountability framework for high standards of nursing excellence. Embracing Magnet helps us hold ourselves to a higher level of nursing care, nursing practice environment, professional collaboration, and patient outcomes. The recognition is always appreciated, but we would do what we do no matter what.”
By Jessica Park
