Hard work at Medical Center of the Rockies has paid off — again!
More than 100 people, including Chief Nursing Officer Ryan Rohman and Magnet® Program Director Barb Ochsner, gathered in Longs Peak conference room on March 16 for a call from the American Nurses Credentialing Center Commission on the Magnet Recognition Program.
“It is my honor to announce that the commission has unanimously agreed to credit Medical Center of the Rockies as a Magnet organization again,” said Dr. Donna Havens, chair of the Commission for the Magnet Recognition Program.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
MCR is among only eight Colorado hospitals — an elite group that also includes Poudre Valley Hospital and University of Colorado Hospital — to achieve the designation.
“The Magnet criteria are designed to separate out the best hospitals in the country, where nurses have a good environment to work and patients receive the highest quality of care,” Ochsner said.
The Magnet model focuses on five main principles: transformational leadership; structural empowerment; exemplary professional practice; new knowledge, innovations and improvements; and empirical outcomes. To achieve designation, a hospital’s priorities must align with the model and be demonstrated through metrics and measurable outcomes.
This is MCR’s second Magnet designation. To re-up its Magnet status, MCR had to prove it deserved it, and this meant thousands of pages of reports, data and examples. The program demands that the hospital’s core performance measures be above national averages. It also requires that applicants focus on interactions between nurses and patients, such as pain management, safety and responsiveness. Two years of data had to show higher-than-average results, and with these results, MCR had to set new, even higher goals.
MCR’s efforts went above and beyond, according to Havens, who recognized several areas in which MCR proved exemplary. These included communication between clinical nurses and their CNO, a high percentage of newborns exclusively breastfed and quick emergency room arrival-to-departure discharge times.
“Magnet is a designation for the entire hospital,” Rohman said. “Every single role in our organization helps us achieve Magnet. This is the result of incredible collaboration between our clinical staff and our physicians. It’s a result of improved protocols, constructive feedback and everyone working and partnering to provide the best care. I am so proud of everyone in our organization.”
Havens agreed. “It’s a true testament to the organization’s commitment to nursing excellence and the entire health care team, and most importantly, to your patients. Congratulations. You guys earned it.”