LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) yesterday (Feb. 20, 2008) granted "Magnet Recognition" to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles for nursing excellence, according to an announcement by Richard D. Cordova, FACHE, president and CEO of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
"The ANCC made 'official' what so many of our patient families and those within the profession have come to know," Cordova said, "...that this hospital is a very, very special place, and its nurses are, too."
The Magnet Recognition Program(r) was developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center to recognize health care organizations that demonstrate nursing excellence. Only five percent of the hospitals in the United States have received Magnet Recognition, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, and only the very best children's hospitals throughout the country.
The Magnet Recognition for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is the culmination of an extended process that began under the leadership of Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer Mary Dee Hacker, R.N., MBA, more than three years ago.
"Our nurses work tirelessly to provide the highest quality of care available, anywhere, built on a foundation of evidence-based best practices," Cordova said. "They have embraced the goal of becoming leaders in research and education, too. Their work is found in professional journals, publications and textbooks.
"Our nurses participate in national and international conferences," he said, "presenting their work in posters and at the podium. They are considered experts, and they are sought as consultants, nationally and internationally.
"Many of our nurses are leaders within the profession or serve as members of the faculty in nursing departments at colleges and universities in and around Los Angeles," Cordova said. "They volunteer in their communities and abroad."
MAGNET/ADD ONE
The three-year Magnet Recognition application process was under the direction of Susan Cline, RNC, MSN, MBA, who is now operations manager in the Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The process involved more than 100 nurses in the creation of a document, with addenda, of more than 3,500 pages.
The original Magnet research study in 1983 identified 14 characteristics that differentiated organizations that were best able to recruit and retain nurses during the nursing shortages of the 1970s and 1980s. These characteristics became the ANCC Forces of Magnetism that provide the conceptual framework for the Magnet appraisal process -- attributes or outcomes that exemplify excellence in nursing.
The full expression of the current 14 Forces of Magnetism is the requirement for designation as a Magnet facility and embodies a professional environment guided by a strong and visionary nursing leader who advocates and supports excellence in nursing practice.
They are Force 1: Quality of Nursing Leadership; Force 2: Organizational Structure; Force 3: Management Style; Force 4: Personnel Policies and Programs; Force 5: Professional Models of Care; Force 6: Quality of Care; Force 7: Quality Improvement; Force 8: Consultation and Resources; Force 9: Autonomy; Force 10: Community and the Healthcare Organization; Force 11: Nurses as Teachers; Force 12: Image of Nursing; Force 13: Interdisciplinary Relationships; and Force 14: Professional Development.
Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been treating the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital is one of America's premier teaching hospitals, affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932. It is a national leader in pediatric research.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles treats 62,000 patients a year in its Emergency Department. It admits more than 11,000 children a year to the hospital, with almost 50 percent of those admissions children under four years of age. There are approximately 287,000 visits a year to its 29 outpatient clinics; nearly 2,800 visits at community sites through its Division of Adolescent Medicine. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is able to offer the optimum in multidisciplinary care, with more than 100 pediatric subspecialty services.
Since 1990, U.S. News & World Report and its panel of board-certified pediatricians have named Childrens Hospital Los Angeles one of the top pediatric facilities in the nation.
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