Kansas City,
06
May
2021
|
13:31 PM
America/Chicago

Children's Mercy Recognized for Excellence in Nursing

In November 2020, Children’s Mercy earned Magnet recognition for a fifth consecutive time. Only 8% of hospitals in the U.S. earn the designation and only 25 hospitals in the world have achieved it five times. But that’s only part of the story.

Children's Mercy also earned 11 “Exemplars,” or citations highlighting excellence in nursing practice and showcasing nurses’ contributions to high quality and patient-centered care.

“Exemplars recognize our achievement in areas where we are doing things in innovative ways and excelling above how other organizations are performing in those areas,” said Paula Blizzard, MSN, RN, NE-BC, Nursing Excellence & Magnet Program. “We’ve heard from the Magnet office that most organizations have only about four or five exemplars, so the fact that we received 11 is pretty exceptional, and something for us definitely to be proud of.”

The Magnet Recognition Program is administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). There are five components of the Magnet model: Transformational Leadership; Structural Empowerment; Exemplary Professional Practice; New Knowledge, Innovation and Improvements; and Empirical Outcomes. Organizations seeking Magnet designation submit documentation as sources of evidence to be scored by a set of Appraisers appointed by the ANCC. If the appraiser team determines a site visit is warranted, the team conducts a site visit to “verify, clarify, evaluate, and amplify” the work of the organization (in 2020 the site visit was done virtually because of COVID-19).

After notifying CM in November 2020 that the hospital earned redesignation, CM later received a written report citing the 11 exemplars in the following areas:

  • Initiative in nursing practice that is consistent with the organization’s mission statement;
  • Chief Nursing Officer’s support for nurses who volunteer in a population health outreach initiative;
  • Nurses’ participation in intraprofessional collaborative practice to ensure coordination of care across the spectrum of health services;
  • Nurses applying available resources to address ethical issues related to clinical practice;
  • Nursing Sensitive Indicator performance for:
    • Peripheral Intravenous Infiltrations (PIV);
    • Patient burns;
    • Peritonitis rates;
  • Patient Experience performance for:
    • Patient-centered care;
    • Service recovery;
  • Innovation within the organization involving nursing.

“News that Children's Mercy has received 11 exemplars is a great way for us to kick off the various activities we have planned in observance of Nurses Week, which begins on May 6 to coincide with the birthday of Florence Nightingale,” said Tangula Taylor, RN, SVP/Chief Nursing Officer. “One of the points we emphasize about Magnet designation is that the nursing staff shares this prestigious honor with the rest of the hospital. Magnet recognition reflects not only nursing excellence, but also outstanding collaboration and performance throughout the organization. In fact, Magnet has put stronger emphasis on interprofessional relationships and how well nursing works with other disciplines and our team at Children’s Mercy lives up to the expectation daily – it’s just the way we operate.”

 

Learn more about Nursing at Children's Mercy.