Nurse recounts how Magnet hospitals saved the lives of his family members

Every year, I am fortunate enough to attend the ANCC National Magnet Conference. The event is attended by professionals from Magnet hospitals, which make up only about 8% of all U.S. hospitals, as well as those facilities who are aspiring to achieve Magnet. This year the event takes place from Oct. 26-28 in Denver, and you can be sure I’ll be there. The conference is a high point for me because I get to meet people with whom I interact all year long through my job with Nurse.com and through my founding role with the Forum for Shared Governance. You see, many of the folks who believe in the concepts of shared governance are often the same people who work at Magnet facilities. This conference represents a unique opportunity for staff, middle managers and executives to come together on equal footing to pursue and achieve excellence. My family and I can attest to that excellence. Thanks to the folks at the Magnet hospitals AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., and at Abington Hospital, Jefferson Health, Abington, Pa., my dad lived many more years to root for the Philadelphia Eagles, and my father-in-law was able to continue his own world-class status as a birder. Many of us and our families will need a hospital in our future. When evaluating those organizations in our neighborhood, we might have a choice. I know that I do, and I will ask to be taken right to the nearest Magnet facility.

I joked with one chief nurse and her best doc, a hospitalist, that I hoped they’d keep their facility in tiptop shape in case my parents, who at the time had a condo on the nearby New Jersey shore, ever needed it. How ironic that a few days later I would be in their hospital, thanking that hospitalist and praising the nursing staff for saving my dad’s life. I can testify that my dad had a seamless hospital experience, marked by a world-class nursing staff that was ranked as a Magnet hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Throughout a long weekend, those nurses kept my family involved with dad’s progress through flexible visiting hours, countless phone calls and e-mails — even in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, my father-in-law had his own close encounter with death at another Magnet hospital where he struggled with a left ventricle perfused by a mostly clogged coronary artery. He too stumbled through days of chancy survival amongst a whirlwind of healthcare providers as he laid near death in a critical care unit. Fortunately, with the help of a different team of world-class Magnet nurses, he made it.

Do you think I see value in the ANCC's Magnet Recognition Program®? You bet I do.

We analyze the value Magnet facilities carry the burden of doing these great things every day through countless encounters. It’s a heady status and provides plenty of material for the editorial staff at Nurse.com to explore.