Newport Hospital first received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) in 2004. Of more than 5,000 hospitals in the United States, only about 4 percent are Magnets. Hospitals with Magnet status are shown to have shorter recovery times and higher patient satisfaction than other hospitals.
Magnet hospitals must demonstrate that their nursing services function beyond the level of excellence. Standards for Magnet status are rigorous and include not only outstanding patient care but also best practices in nursing, management philosophy, national standards for quality improvement, leadership by the chief nursing officer, nurse education levels, and professional models of care. The ANCC uses numerous criteria to thoroughly evaluate all areas of patient care.
The Magnet process is continuous; Newport Hospital was redesignated in 2009, in 2014, and again in 2019. Newport is currently one of only a tiny handful of hospitals worldwide to achieve four consecutive Magnet designations.
The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) was established in 1991 as a separately incorporated entity of the American Nurses Association. The ANCC has provided certification opportunities in more than 30 specialties and advanced practice areas of nursing. It is the only national system for accreditation and approval of continuing education in nursing.
The Magnet Recognition Program for Excellence in Nursing is based and administered by the ANCC. The program was based on research completed by nurse researchers in the early 1980s who identified the attributes of organizations that were able to recruit and retain professional nurses.
The Magnet program identifies excellence in the provision of nursing services, an environment that fosters and rewards quality nursing, recognizes the management philosophy and practice of nursing services and the adherence to standards for improving the quality of patient care.
See the moment when leadership and staff at Newport Hospital received word that for the fourth consecutive time Newport Hospital had achieved Magnet recognition, the national benchmark for nursing excellence.