The purpose of the Magnet award is to recognize institutions that provide an optimum environment in support of professional nursing practice. The 14 forces of Magnetism identify the elements found to be essential to enable the staff nurse to perform in a way that promotes the best patient care possible. Furthermore, research has shown that Magnet environments attract and retain quality employees (McClure & Hinshaw, 2002). Quality employees deliver excellent patient care and act as advocates for patients and their families, helping them to negotiate the complex healthcare system in an often difficult time of physical and emotional illness and stress.
The importance of nursing professional development and the activities that encompass that practice are enhanced by the decision to seek Magnet designation. However, the role and the functions of an effective staff development specialist remain the same whether or not he or she practices in a Magnet facility. All the values inherent in professional accountability, evidence-based practice, staff nurse leadership, quality improvement, and interdisciplinary care should be the basis for excellence in staff development offerings in any setting.
The roles of nursing professional development educators are conceptualized as educator, facilitator, change agent, consultant, researcher, and leader (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2000). The effective staff development specialist will bring all related skills to bear in the effort to achieve and maintain Magnet status.
The efforts required to achieve Magnet status are significant wherever the organization's starting point is in terms of development requirements for staff, system improvements that have to be made, educational outcomes that have to be achieved, and professional behaviors that have to be demonstrated by every staff nurse and even nonprofessional members of the team (Wolf & Greenhouse, 2006).
Evidence of the 14 Forces of Magnetism has to be embedded at the staff nurse level. The "culture" of the nursing department has to demonstrate the 14 Forces in action (American Nurses Credentialing Center, 2005). The evidence for that is every staff nurse is able to articulate how he or she understands and practices autonomously and consistently with professional nursing standards, uses a professional model of care, understands and uses the ANA Code of Ethics (ANA, 2001) and the Patient's Bill of Rights, (American Hospital Association, 1992) uses clinical resources, demonstrates an understanding of evidence-based practice, and can use the Quality Improvement model to improve care in daily practice in addition to many other elements. No small order given the diversity of nursing staff and facility resources. Staff development specialists figure heavily in the success of this important project.
For example, in Magnet facilities, there is demonstrated integration of the ANA Code of Ethics and Patient's Bill of Rights into practice at all levels of the nursing organization. Nurses have learned about the ANA Code of Ethics but usually have not reflected on its use in daily practice unless they have encountered a special circumstance to do so. The goal of Magnet preparation is to facilitate the nurse's ability to fully understand the ANA Code of Ethics and identify how he or she uses it in practice. To help staff understanding and application of the Code, exemplars are used to illustrate its value and the way it is used to make ethical decisions affecting patient care. The staff development specialist needs to use varied educational methods to influence the affective domain and promote critical thinking so that the staff nurse can demonstrate this ability to Magnet surveyors.
An additional example is related to the responsibility of the staff development specialist to teach staff not only "how we do it here" but also the evidence that supports "why we do it here this way" and not rely on "this is the way we have always done it." Staff need to know how to use multiple library and clinical resources to determine the best practice for the setting. In Magnet facilities, best practices are evidence based insofar as available. Staff need to learn how to search various nursing databases and to analyze studies as part of their professional responsibility.
Many of the Magnet requirements are related to the organization and structure of the nursing department such that staff are supported, systems are in place, and resources that provide for a high level of professional nursing practice are available. In the preparation for the Magnet designation, nursing departments often have to put systems and structures in place, or at least "tweak" them, to meet the standards. The change agent role of nursing professional development requires that through leadership and participation, "educators help facilitate the initiation of, the adoption of and adaptation to change" (American Nurses Association, 2000, p. 9). Staff development specialists are called upon to show staff how the change will benefit their practice. Staff development is often the first to evaluate the success of new programs and systems as the teaching takes place-being able to do that comprehensively and rapidly will go a long way to ensuring the success of new initiatives made to meet the standards.
Additional ways that staff development specialists prepare staff for Magnet achievement/redesignation are the following:
* The development and growth of preceptor and mentoring programs: This is not a new concept; however, the success of the programs to move staff nurses through the practice continuum of "novice to expert" with supports in place, nurturing, and professional leadership development is a worthwhile, long-term, and rigorous process (Haag-Heitman, 1999).
* Articulation agreements with colleges/universities of nursing to provide opportunity for licensed practical nurses to become registered nurses and for registered nurses to achieve bachelor of science in nursing degrees, as well as to provide master's in nursing programs-the more convenient and on-site, the better.
* Use of Web-based continuing nursing education with 24/7 access is important to foster continuing professional development and useful to prepare every staff member for Magnet designation.
* Certification review programs available to as many specialties as possible will also meet the grade for fostering professional nursing practice.
In conclusion, the decision to seek Magnet designation or redesignation by a nursing department should be seen as cause for joy and celebration by the staff development specialist. Embodied in the 14 Forces of Magnetism are all the values that professional development educators hold dear. Now, as a result of the decision to proceed, the partnership between and collaboration with staff development specialists, nursing leadership, staff nurses, and patients can only grow stronger.
Rose Nagle Girgenti, MA, RN, BC
Director, Clinical Education
St. Joseph's Healthcare System
Paterson, NJ
REFERENCES