Betty Craig, chief nursing officer
At the annual American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Conference, health care professionals wait for that special moment their hospital name is called to walk across the conference stage and have their Magnet designation announced. This year, nursing staff at PAH were able to join those hospitals. As they walked onto the stage proudly lifting their banner, labeled with “Pennsylvania Hospital” across the front, the announcer declared PAH’s second Magnet designation – the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence.
Attending the 2021 conference in Atlanta, Georgia this fall, members of PAH’s nursing staff celebrated their two-time title while also participating in meetings to learn about best practices in clinical care from other health care facilities around the world.
“Having the opportunity to attend these conferences is so critical for our nurses,” said Betty Craig, DNP, RN, FACHE, chief nursing officer. “They have an opportunity to actively participate in educational sessions and advance their nursing knowledge while expanding their professional networks.”
“It’s all about elevating and innovating nursing,” said Emma Cotter, MSN, RN-BC, Magnet Program coordinator. “We were able to engage with nurses from all over the world and hear their initiatives on significant topics in health care, like employee and patient satisfaction, and workplace violence and safety.”
As a pre-meeting before the conference kick-off, Elise Canale, MSN, RN, CEN, Infusion Services nurse, and Lindsey Tyrrell, MSN, RN, CEN, assistant nurse manager of Emergency Nursing, participated in the Magnet4Europe session.
Each participating U.S. hospital in the program is partnered with a “twin” hospital in Europe to help them prepare for their Magnet designation application process and to exchange ideas on how to foster an efficient workplace centered on employee mental health and well-being.
Canale and Tyrrell presented data from the Penn-led Clinician Wellbeing Study to an international audience of nurse leaders. The study included a survey, focused on burnout in emergency department nurses and clinicians, which was taken by the 60 participating U.S. Magnet twinning hospitals.
“While reviewing the data, [Canale and Tyrrell] identified a common theme among the respondents related to the inability to hardwire break relief as part of daily patient care assignments, especially during the pandemic surges,” said Craig. “This has exhausted their resiliency. It reinforced the importance of providing time within a workday to pause and re-energize while in these frontline positions.”
Craig similarly discussed this theme in her podium presentation, “Planning for the Future of Nursing,” in which she shared ways to improve the flexibility of the nursing workforce. Craig discussed the process of remodeling PAH’s hiring process. Impacted by the national nursing shortages, PAH implemented a pre-emptive hiring model in their recruitment process – hiring people in advance based on historical turnover rates and current turnover triggers with increases in unit turnover rate – which allows managers to ensure they have appropriate staffing on their teams to reduce burnout.
Karen Ulmer, MSN, RN, RNC-OB, NPD-BC, a clinical nurse education specialist and nurse residency coordinator, addressed retention in nursing in her poster presentation, “Mentorship Catalyzes a Culture of Collaboration & Mobilizes Metrics.” She discussed the work behind PAH’s formal nurse mentorship program, which connects nurses with mentors to achieve their goals, such as going back to school, becoming certified in a specialty, or applying for a leadership position within PAH.
At the end of the conference, the Magnet committee announced that the 2022 conference will be taking place in Philadelphia. PAH, and other Philadelphia hospitals in attendance, celebrated on stage, cheering and dancing to Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom.”
“We’re very excited that it’s going to be in the city,” said Craig. “We’ll be hosting tours at PAH during the conference and will have volunteer opportunities for staff involvement. Nearly 10,000 nurses will be coming to the city, and we want them to feel welcomed and be immersed in the history of Philadelphia – the home to many firsts in medicine.”