Congratulations to Our Recent Magnet® Designees

One of our favorite parts of being your partner on your Magnet^® journey is when we get to share your joy after a successful designation and provide heartfelt congratulations. Your nursing teams have accomplished so much during these past four years, and your support makes it happen! Join us in congratulating this partial list of recent Magnet^® Designees!

• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital – 8 Exemplars

We are so proud of what these teams have accomplished, and we can’t wait to share more news of our partners’ successes as the year goes on!

Seeking to improve our client experience, the Tipton Health Communications Nursing Excellence Validation Team (NEVT) implemented a new workflow and process last year to speed the return of documents to our clients. We set aggressive document return goals as part of this initiative.

We are proud to report that our team has met our goals for 365 consecutive business days while maintaining our focus on quality and continuing to provide our clients with schedule flexibility.

Our work won’t stop here. The team is committed to continuously improving its workflow, processes, and digital work environment to more efficiently and effectively meet our clients’ needs while providing an excellent experience.

Congratulations to the NEVT on this monumental milestone!

Nurses engaged in the care of their patients are continuously exploring ways to improve care quality and patient outcomes. These efforts can take many forms, from highly structured research studies to evidence-based practice (EBP) initiatives, and quality improvement (QI) activities.

These methods frequently overlap and intermingle but have unique differences. Understanding which method is best will increase the effectiveness of the work and helps close the research-practice gap (i.e., the divide between what the body of research recommends and what the healthcare patients receive) (Lilienfeld et al. 2013; Prentiss et al. 2018).

To help you decide which method is optimal for your question, we will review the different methods, starting with Nursing Research. Future articles will focus on EBP and QI.

When to Consider a Nursing Research Study

Consider conducting a research study if a literature review reveals an evidence gap. Research generates new knowledge or validates existing knowledge to answer a specific research question. Research adds to the professional knowledge base and helps close evidence gaps.

You’ll need human subject protection approvals before conducting any research with human subjects, such as a randomized controlled trial of two skin care regimens for premature infants. We have some tips for both conducting nursing research and for highlighting nursing excellence in the Magnet^® examples focused on research.

• Examples OO11, NK1, NK2, NK3, and NK4 all require research studies (no EBP/QI).
• Although an IRB is required to have oversight of human subject research, many IRBs oversee EBP and QI initiatives as well. Be sure to only include the nursing research studies in your OO11 document.
• Read the intent statement for each nursing research example to determine if it requires a description of specific method terminology.
• Use clear terminology when describing the research methodology. Avoid commingling of terminology with EBP and/or QI whenever possible.
• Because most of the research examples are SOEs, keep track of your meeting minutes and email threads involving the research study to use as evidence to support the actions in the narratives.

Join us for Part Two of this series in the next newsletter when we tackle EBP and start tying it all together.

Cheryl is an editor on the Nursing Excellence Validation Team (NEVT). She graduated with a BSN and MS in the pediatric nurse practitioner track from The Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes!) and a DNP in the leadership track from Walsh University. She developed an interest in technical writing as a nursing continuing professional development specialist partnering with nurses to help them articulate their scholarly ideas in study proposals, abstracts, posters, manuscripts, and nursing excellence documents. Her experience in writing and editing nursing excellence documents attracted her to Tipton Health as a way to help nurses showcase their nursing excellence stories.

Before joining the NEVT at Tipton Health, Cheryl practiced in various clinical and nursing continuing professional development roles in children’s hospitals in Ohio and served as nursing faculty. She currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. We met with Cheryl to ask her about her work on the NEVT, writing tips, and more.

What would you say is the most rewarding part of working on the NEVT?

Of the many rewarding parts of this role, the MOST rewarding is witnessing the national commitment to Magnet^® designation. It is a privilege to read each example and then compose feasible, actionable feedback to ensure we meet requirements. As part of your writing team, I am cheering you on from behind the scenes!

Is there anything you would like clients to know as they begin a Magnet^® journey?

Here’s something that I have found helpful. When creating a detailed writing schedule to help organize the selected examples, in addition to assigning writers, consider assigning internal reviewers. A feedback template can guide internal reviewers in validating story details and filling in gaps about story characters, timelines, actions, supporting evidence, and data. Using a writing schedule spreadsheet can help track example drafts, edited versions, and approvals for each example. When writing is a team sport, colleagues share accountability for document completion. As a bonus, more colleagues are invested in celebrating the success too.

Do you have any advice for clients throughout their Magnet^® journey?

Remember that writing is a process. Once you have a first draft of your selected examples, you’re ready to fine-tune and polish them. This is the time to invite feedback. I empathize with writers as they strategically document their nursing excellence stories. The endless hours of thought and writing represent a huge investment. At the same time, the intense effort can make it challenging to receive writing feedback – been there! Throughout the years, when meeting with nursing colleagues to review internal and external feedback, we took full advantage of the benefits of feedback. My advice is based on this experience. First, think of feedback as a gift. It’s sometimes tough but be thankful that colleague(s) valued responding to a request for feedback. Second, engage with your stakeholders to deconstruct and process the feedback. Consider how the feedback might help you strengthen stories for the mutual goal of nursing excellence recognition. Next, make any necessary revisions. You’ve now reduced your likelihood of requests for additional documentation – high-five! However, rest assured that we can help you address additional documentation requests, too.

What is your favorite Magnet^® example?

Over the years, I have become a huge fan of the whole Magnet^® Model, but I will single out NK5 as my favorite element. The NK5 examples highlight nurses making changes in practice based on the strongest scientific evidence, clinical expertise, and patient preferences. I beam with pride reading these examples that show nursing colleagues providing holistic, quality care based on the most up-to-date research and nursing knowledge, rather than tradition, opinion-based advice, or personal beliefs.

Do you have any recommendations that you think would help clients who are close to submission?

Be sure to check the ANCC website monthly for manual updates and FAQs. Making a final check a month before submission will give you time to make any final updates.

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

When the weather is nice, you’ll find me hiking or bicycling in our beautiful park systems. On rainy days, I’m either reading for my book club or in the kitchen testing new recipes.

All too often, hospital marketing teams treat the pursuit of Magnet^® and Pathway to Excellence^® as an event and not a multi-year effort. They focus on the day you receive your designation call from the ANCC, putting out a press release or video, throwing up a banner, adding the Magnet^® logo to the organization’s web page, and posting a few social media links.

But that isn’t enough. Your nursing team deserves much more recognition for their work.

Your Magnet^® journey can and should be a way to highlight the outstanding achievements of your nurses, their commitment to continuous improvement, and the important role that nurses play in ensuring your organization provides the very best patient care and quality.

Here are some ways to increase the “marketing of Magnet^®” during your journey.

Create a Marketing Calendar for Your Magnet Journey

Work with your leadership and Magnet^® champions to create a multi-year calendar with ideas for internal articles on at least a bi-monthly basis. For story ideas, use your narratives to highlight and recognize the work of specific clinical nurses and units.

Engage Your Marketing Team

Make sure the leadership of the marketing team understands the full scope of your Magnet^® journey. Seek out commitments from marketing to “cover” Magnet^® milestones on an ongoing basis. Make it easy for marketing by pledging to provide content, photos, etc. based on your marketing calendar.

Involve Your CNO

This is a unique opportunity for your CNO to continuously recognize the efforts of nurses throughout the organization. Prepare the CNO with talking points about your journey to excellence. What do you hope to accomplish? What outcomes are you seeking? What will success look like? Then provide the CNO with information from your SOEs and EOs to demonstrate the progress you are making. Encourage the CNO to talk to the C-suite and interprofessional partners about nursing excellence. Prepare an external presentation for the CNO for speaking engagements in the community.

Look for Tipton Health team members in booth 1741 at the 2024 National Magnet^® Conference and Pathway to Excellence^® Conference in New Orleans, October 30 – November 1.

Your Tipton Health partners, nursing excellence consultants, and editors hope to connect with you at our booth! We look forward to reuniting with and celebrating our partners who have achieved a nursing excellence designation and engaging with those who are well on their way toward a nursing excellence designation.

Here are some ways to make the most of the conference:

Meet with Tipton

This is an opportunity for us to learn more about your needs and for you to learn about how we are continuously evolving to better serve you. You can just walk-up or contact us now to schedule a free consultation.

Set Strategic Goals for the Conference

Make the most of your organization’s investment in valued nursing team members’ conference attendance by setting strategic goals and creating a comprehensive plan for each phase of the conference experience. While it is targeted to last year’s conference, much of the information still applies from the 2023 Tipton Health nursing leadership webinar, “How to Make the Most of the Magnet^® Conference”. View the On-Demand video.

Get Tools from the ANCC

Access the ANCC Conference Attendance Justification Toolkit, with a sample Justification Letter and Expense Worksheet, to break down a budget and present the benefits of attending the conference to your leaders. https://4850206.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/4850206/Magnet_Pathway_Conference_Justification_Toolkit.pdf

Visit the ANCC website for conference news, updates, and to register: https://magnetpathwaycon.nursingworld.org/

Safe travels, and we hope to see you in New Orleans! And, of course, congratulations to those nurses selected to present!

The Tipton Health Assessment was developed to help our nursing partners to celebrate their nursing excellence triumphs and prioritize their outstanding challenges. The assessment is complimentary to all Tipton Health partners, because it aligns our work with our client’s needs and prepares our partners for a successful nursing excellence journey.

How The Assessment Works

• Our partners provide information and data related to the evidence-based nursing excellence structures that most impact nursing leadership, the work environment, the advancement of the profession, and ultimately patient outcomes.
• We deliver a comprehensive analysis that includes a projected timeline to achieve nursing excellence milestones, such as ANCC Magnet^® Designation or Pathway to Excellence^® Program Designation. We prioritize nursing excellence structures and evidence-based solutions that will have the most impact.

We deliver the priorities aligned with the organizations strategic priorities, return on investment, and nursing excellence frameworks. The alignment supports nurse leaders in their advocacy and communication of the value nursing excellence brings to an organization at all levels.

In addition to sharing our findings with nurse leaders, we also engage key stakeholders, such as the C-suite as a way to support the advancement of and investment in nurses.

CNOs and their teams have expressed tremendous gratitude and recognized the level of expertise, attention to detail and investment in time that Tipton Health commits to this complimentary process. The impact in some cases has resulted in organization’s full investment in a multiyear plan to support nursing excellence as well as providing organizations a road map for their nursing strategic plan and journey of nursing excellence. Most importantly, we have established meaningful relationships with nursing partners through this process. The process alone serves as an intervention that enables us to let nursing teams know that they are not alone in their challenges as we help forge a path forward.

We invite any of our partners to participate in this complimentary program. Whether you are considering designation for the first time, a redesignation, or you just want to know where you stand and what step to take next, we are happy to partner with you for this complimentary service.