(April 9, 2002) - St. Mary's Hospital nurses are the first in Madison to earn the prestigious Magnet Recognition for Excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) of the American Nurses Association. Awarded by the foremost authority on nursing, this national designation is the highest level of recognition that can be given to nursing organizations in health care.

St. Mary's is one of only four medical centers in the Midwest, and the only one in south central Wisconsin, to have achieved this level of recognition.  Less than one percent of hospitals in the nation share this coveted honor.

"The recognition acknowledges St. Mary's as a 'magnet' for great nurses," said Deb Herr, RN, team leader of the St. Marys' Magnet Steering Team.  "It means that our professional practice environment helps us attract and keep the best and brightest nurses." Research has found Magnet designated facilities consistently outperform their peers in recruiting and retaining nurses which is especially important given the current nursing shortage. According to Joan Beglinger, vice president for patient services, "Our nursing vacancy rate runs about 3 percent, compared to the Midwest average of 9 percent. In 2001 our turnover rate was 9.4 percent compared to a national turnover rate of 21 percent."

Hospitals receiving the honor have met strict standards set by the ANCC such as excellence in nursing leadership, excellence in the practice of nursing, excellence in patient care, and excellence in attention to cultural and ethnic diversity of employees, patient and patients' families. Magnet reviewers noted that St. Marys' approach to shared decision making, which makes clinical nurses accountable for clinical practice, is a model for the nation. It ensures nurses have a meaningful voice in shaping their practice environment.  "Over the past decade we have transformed our nursing organization from a traditional hierarchy to a culture of partnership and shared decision making.  We have invested energy and resources into sharing information with clinical nurses and supporting the skill development that enables them to provide excellent patient care. Magnet Recognition is a very exciting step in our journey of practice excellence," said Beglinger. In addition, reviewers looked at a wide-variety of patient safety and other care initiatives such as preventing patient falls, improving patient pain management, and reducing medication errors through an innovative bedside computer system, to name a few.  

"We could not be more proud of our nursing organization," said Jerry Lefert, president of St. Mary's Hospital.  "Magnet Recognition confirms what we already knew. We have excellent, qualified nurses with years of experience who provide great patient care."