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Inside best practice: Are your staff nurses ready for designation?

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, September 9, 2008

Judith Church, DHA, MSN, RN, ACNPC, CNAA-BC ACNP-BC, administrative director of nursing at Kettering Medical Center in Kettering, OH, helped lead her three-hospital system to ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® designation in 2005. But before doing so, she questioned whether she could find evidence to show the CNO that staff nurses were ready to achieve designation.

Church took two existing studies and combined them to query RN perception on the presence of the 14 Forces of Magnetism within the workplace environment and, in turn, gauge readiness to pursue designation.

The two surveys measured the presence of structural empowerment and evaluated professional nursing practice:

1. Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire (CWEQ-II), created by Heather K. Spence Laschinger, PhD, RN. This questionnaire measures four empowerment dimensions within the workplace: 1) opportunity for professional growth; 2) support for decision-making; 3) information regarding goals and policy changes; and 4) available resources to get a job done.
2. Essentials of Magnetism (EOM), created by Marlene Kramer and Claudia Schmalenberg. The EOM tool was created from observing and interviewing staff nurses at 289 MRP hospitals, after which the researchers were able to identify elements needed in an environment to achieve quality patient care. 

“The two tools fit together like a glove,” says Church, “because to have structure you must have an empowering RN workplace environment, which is measured by the CWEQ-II tool. To have a process of professional nursing, you must have the presence of the 14 Forces of Magnetism, which is measured by the EOM tool.”

Source: Adapted from HCPro’s Advisor to the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®, June 2008. Don't have a subscription? Take a look at the benefits of becoming a member of HCPro’s Resource Center for the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®.

Editor’s note: Do you have a best practice you would like to share? E-mail it to associate editor Cameran Erny at cerny@hcpro.com and see your name in print!

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