Emma Cotter, Florrie Vanek, and Annelies Pfeiffer Wood, in center, holding the Magnet®4Europe banner, with UKR Director of Nursing Alfred Stockinger, UKR Head of Nursing Science and Development Kirstin Ruttman, and the UKR staff.
Members of PAH’s Nursing team traveled to Regensburg, Germany in December to visit their Magnet®4Europe twin hospital in-person for the first time. Over four days, the team – Florrie Vanek, MSN, RN, NE-BC, director of Nursing Education, Nursing Professional Practice, and the Magnet® Program; Emma Cotter, MSN, RN, LSSGB, Magnet® Program manager; and Annelies Pfeiffer Wood, MSN, RNC-WHNP-BC, a Nurse Practice Adviser and Nurse Practitioner in Women’s Health – participated in presentations, tours, and roundtable discussions to enhance clinical practices and strengthen ties between PAH and its twin hospital, Universitätsklinikum Regensburg (UKR).
Through funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program, Magnet®4Europe pairs Magnet®-designated organizations in the United States with participating health care facilities in Europe. Creating these connections sparks international collaboration and provides support for European hospitals striving for Magnet® status – the highest honor for professional nursing practice. Penn Nursing Professor Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, co-directs the initiative, and Penn Medicine's other hospitals also participate.
Although PAH has been connected with the German university hospital UKR since 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff from each facility have only been able to collaborate virtually. That meant holding monthly meetings online to discuss the core components of the Magnet® model: transformational leadership, structural empowerment, exemplary professional practice, and new knowledge, innovations, and improvements.
Emma Cotter, Annelies Pfeiffer Wood, and Florrie Vanek held a presentation on Shared Governance and Nursing Recognition at UKR.
“It was like a homecoming of sorts. We knew them for so long, but never met in person,” said Vanek. “When we arrived, we were welcomed as teammates. It felt like we worked there with them.”
During their time in Germany, the PAH team held formal presentations on their emergency room processes and nursing recruitment strategies. They also discussed Penn Medicine’s Shared Governance structures (shared decision-making among groups representing departments throughout the Health System) – an uncommon practice in Europe.
“We learned a lot from just sitting down with the UKR nurses and having an open discussion about our firsthand experiences in clinical care,” said Cotter. “It was inspiring to meet so many people who are so passionate about what they do.”
In May, Vanek and Cotter will travel to Oslo, Norway for a Magnet®4Europe conference, where they will meet again with the UKR team, among other European hospitals. In addition, they plan to host a meeting with UKR staff in Philadelphia this spring.
“It’s a mutually beneficial relationship,” said Vanek. “We’re learning from them, as much as they’re learning from us, to support our shared mission of elevating nursing practices and principles.”