Nurse Magnetism: The Five Components of Magnet Designation

Introduction

This paper offers a brief overview of magnetism as it relates to nursing, learning, leadership, and evidence-based practice. The five components of magnetism, as described by Debisette and Vessey, will be named and explained individually. An appendix to this report contains a concept mind map of the broader subject of magnetism as covered in this paper. Finally, the paper demonstrates a strong relationship between the qualities required for magnet designation and the associated benchmarking strategies and evidence-based practice models. While magnet designation is not an entirely simple concept to describe, the facets that make it up are relatively straightforward once identified and explained.

Transformational Leadership and Structural Empowerment

The five components of nursing magnetism, as described by Debisette and Vessey, are transformational leadership, structural empowerment, exemplary professional practice, empirical outcomes, and new knowledge/innovation/improvement. In the new magnet model, transformational leadership is the first of the five components. It is the preferred leadership style for cultivating nurses and advancing the overall nursing profession. One substantial benefit of the transformational leadership model is that it tends to produce significantly higher levels of engagement and forward-thinking among nursing staff. Prior benchmarking and evidence-based practice have found that identifying and measuring success within the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) population can be complex and elusive — a complexity that creates challenging issues for executive educators, policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers. In nursing leadership, it is important to maintain quality across all major areas, including competencies, skills, and educational level (Debisette & Vessey, 2011).

The next component of the magnet model is structural empowerment. This can be defined as a strong professional practice environment that flourishes by encompassing, accessing, and redesigning nursing practice. It involves collaboration with community-based organizations, with high-quality outcomes being the common result when the proper principles are applied effectively. A robust process of professional development is also characteristic of an organization that is properly structured in this regard.

Exemplary Professional Practice and New Knowledge

The third component is exemplary professional practice. Debisette asserts that "there should be an understanding of the role of nursing with advancement of the role in the care delivery system and the relationship to patient, families, communities and the interdisciplinary team" (Debisette & Vessey, 2011). This component also requires staffing systems that incorporate patient needs, staff member skill sets, and staffing mix. Consistent with benchmarking and evidence-based practice, peer review and networking play a strong role so that mistakes are identified sooner, limiting the resulting harm (Debisette & Vessey, 2011).

When it comes to new knowledge, innovation, and improvement, there are several important considerations. Magnet organizations are both ethically and professionally compelled to contribute to the general body of knowledge through new discoveries, innovation, and quality improvements. Achieving quality outcomes, best practices, and nursing excellence requires the active dissemination of new knowledge, including the translation of research into practical changes and advances. Nurses must be kept motivated by the transformational leaders of their nursing collective. There also needs to be a quality improvement and sustainment initiative that continuously assesses, analyzes, and evaluates clinical and operational processes as well as outcomes. In keeping with evidence-based practice, this facet of nursing magnet systems should resemble what is known as the Scholars Model — a grassroots approach designed to develop a cadre of clinical nurses with evidence-based practice skills and experience (Debisette & Vessey, 2011).

Conclusion

When considering the traits of a nursing program or collective, there are several "forces" that should be embedded in the system or its design. These forces include quality of nursing leadership, organizational structure, management style, personnel policies and programs, professional models of care, quality of care, quality improvement, consultation and resources, autonomy, community and healthcare organization relationships, nurses as teachers, image of nursing, interdisciplinary relationships, and professional development (Debisette & Vessey, 2011). These cornerstones are echoed in the model underpinning the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program, which incorporates the same five components described throughout this paper (ANCC, 2015). These frameworks have extended into college nursing programs as well (UC Davis, 2015) and have always been central to hospitals and major healthcare organizations (Lowell General, 2015).

The magnet system described in this paper is not the only approach available in the field. However, it has been widely adopted by nursing organizations and industry groups, which will help ensure its staying power and broad relevance in the nursing profession. Having a singular, coherent framework for evidence-based practice and benchmarking is valuable. That said, nurses and organizations should be careful not to devolve into groupthink or other counterproductive habits that could undermine what the magnet model is capable of fully achieving.

ANCC. (2015). Announcing a new model for ANCC's Magnet Recognition Program. Nursecredentialing.org. Retrieved October 20, 2015, from

Debisette, A., & Vessey, J. (2011). Annual review of nursing research. New York: Springer.

Lowell General. (2015). What it means to be a Magnet® hospital. Lowellgeneral.org. Retrieved October 20, 2015, from

UC Davis. (2015). What is Magnet Designation? Ucdmc.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved October 20, 2015, from http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/nurse/magnet/designation.html