Question

Case Presentation

A form of HCO that offers nurses the opportunity to fully realize their professional role is the Magnet© organization. Magnet organizations are HCOs, primarily hospitals, that have adopted organizational practices that promote excellence in nursing practice. The HCO that adopts Magnet principles is committing to an organizational design and structure that empowers nursing staff to achieve higher levels of performance through engagement and participation. The Magnet designation is only obtained after a process of learning and self-evaluation followed by changes to the organization’s structure. These design changes provide a decentralized authority structure created to support participative management and professional autonomy for nurses. Nurses working in Magnet facilities are expected to be active participants in organizational processes, to govern themselves, to collaborate with other professional colleagues and to be both responsible and accountable for the outcomes of nursing care.

Magnet designation is an empowerment model that captures the main features of the complex adaptive system. Adopting Magnet principles meant to attract and retain excellent nurses is, fundamentally, recognition that professional nursing is a valuable and scarce resource essential to the effective function of the HCO. Nurses are not simply workers in the system but are instead a critical component of the organization, making substantial contributions to the success of the HCO. To achieve this recognition, an HCO must be able to demonstrate the full integration of professional nursing into its operations through authority structures that move decision making, power, and control of practice to nurses throughout the organization. This is usually accomplished through the creation of governance councils in which all nursing staff are able to voice their concerns with care issues and then make decisions that will affect how care is delivered in that facility. Professional decision making is no longer the exclusive domain of the nursing executive and directors. Instead, there is a flattening of hierarchical relationships related to authority and control over practice with more of the responsibilities for care outcomes being assumed by nursing staff.

1. Would a reference to nursing logically fit in the mission statement of a magnet?

2.What are examples of how a magnet HCO captures the main features of a complex adaptive system?

The HCO must also demonstrate that appropriate processes are in place that allow for the development of innovative care strategies and that nurses can implement and review the results of their innovation efforts. Quality management in Magnet organizations is robust, and nurses are fully involved in creative activities that encourage continuous quality improvement and the achievement of excellence in nursing care. These facilities promote the continuing professional development of their nurses by supporting education and career-ladder programs.

Case Analysis

This care exemplifies the concept Health Care Organizations major and minor attributes of purpose, public trust, structure, and organizational environment. Although Magnet designation is specific to nursing, the adoption of a Magnet design by an HCO has spillover benefits for the entire organization. Because the HCO is an integrated system and professional nursing is the largest workforce in most of these organizations, an active and engaged nursing workforce positively influences other members and other components of the HCO. Empowered nurses act as transformative agents in the Magnet structure, leading efforts to improve the quality of care and inspiring others in the organization to join in the effort to create better systems and improved HCO outcomes. In the end, the HCO with Magnet designation benefits from increased collaboration, self-determination, and participation by nurses because this increases the capacity of the organization to adapt to uncertainty and change.

Answer 1

1.
Magnet organization is a form of HCO, which offers nurses the opportunity to fully realize their professional role. Magnet organizations have adopted organizational practices that promote excellence in nursing practice. The principles of magnet empower the nursing staff to achieve higher levels of performance through engagement and participation.
So, a reference to nursing logically fit in the mission statement of a magnet.

2.
A magnet HCO captures the main features of a complex adaptive system by the following ways:
HCO demonstrates the full integration of professional nursing into its operations through authority structures that move decision making, power, and control of practice to nurses throughout the organization. This is accomplished by the creation of governance councils in which all nursing staff are able to voice their concerns with care issues and then make decisions that will affect how care is delivered in that facility.