• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Preparing for the site visit

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, May 1, 2007

As the site visit drew nearer for Aurora Medical Center Hartford--one of five Aurora hospital sites in Wisconsin--during its application to receive ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® redesignation in 2004, the hospital staff followed Henry David Thoreau's advice, "Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around," says Ann Kratz, MSN, RN-C, clinical nurse specialist.

Kratz says it was important to the hospital system that every staff nurse in all five hospitals was fully prepared to share their nursing practice with the appraisers during the site visit. "This was no easy task with 2,400 nurses, but enthusiasm was contagious," says Kratz.

Aurora created the following check-list of accomplishments in preparation for the site visit:

• Appointed unit champions who assisted in documenting two to three projects that highlighted nursing excellence in their unit. The projects included examples of excellence in nursing care and their related outcomes
• Created posters that highlighted the best quality improvement projects at each of the five hospitals
• Created a hospital-specific video that highlighted these projects, as well as the empowerment of staff nurses
• Updates in the nursing newsletter emphasizing the 14 Forces of Magnetism and accomplishments on each hospital's continued journey
• Incorporated "Magnet moments" at each staff meeting to energize the nursing staff and reward them with candy

Source: Ann Kratz, MSN, RN-C

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive