September 28, 2006
UWMC honored for excellent hospital nursing
By Craig Degginger
News & Community Relations
UW Medical Center has been recertified as a “Magnet Nursing Services Organization” by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for its excellence in nursing practice and patient care.
UWMC is the only facility in Washington to receive this honor. There are only 209 Magnet facilities worldwide.
The Magnet award is the highest level of recognition for hospital nursing awarded by the ANCC.
UWMC was the first hospital in the nation to achieve Magnet status in 1994. This is the hospital’s fourth certification, following submission of key data and a two-day site appraisal visit by a survey team in June.
The program was begun 12 years ago to identify institutions that provide top quality nursing care for patients. In recertifying UWMC as a Magnet hospital, the ANCC recognizes it as an institution that supports the highest quality professional nursing practice, exemplifies excellence in management philosophy and practices of nursing services, adheres to standards for improving the quality of patient care, and is attentive to the cultural and ethnic diversity of patients.
As a leader in nursing excellence, UWMC provides support and consultation to organizations aspiring to achieve these high standards.
“This wonderful achievement represents the ‘gold standard’ for nursing and patient care. It also confirms what many patients and family members have to say about the quality of our service day in and day out,” said Interim Executive Director Lisa Brandenburg.
The ANCC selection criteria include such areas as nursing philosophy and structure, expertise and role of nursing administration, fiscal resource management, use of the nursing process, organizational environment that supports professional practice, quality assurance programs, ethics, use of nursing research and recognition of a diverse client population.
