Magnet Designation Shines Light on Nursing Excellence at Moffitt

At Moffitt Cancer Center, delivering high-quality care to every patient has always been a top priority. This commitment was affirmed when Moffitt achieved Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the prestigious credentialing body of the American Nurses Association, recognizing the cancer center’s exceptional standard of care on a global scale.

Achieving Magnet status places Moffitt among the elite 9.6% of U.S. hospitals recognized for excellence in nursing.

Moffitt earned its first Magnet designation in 2015 and now joins the ranks of a select few health care organizations that have earned the coveted four-year designation multiple times.

“Many organizations can say or advertise that they are the best; Magnet designation proves we are the best,” said Leslie Rogers, PhD, a registered nurse and Magnet Program director at Moffitt.

In addition to being redesignated, Moffitt received eight exemplars — far exceeding the standard. An exemplar is awarded when the narrative and evidence provided outperforms Magnet expectations. The exemplars include:

• Moffitt’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) rate. Moffitt nursing outperformed the 80% target goal set by the Institute of Medicine.
• Moffitt’s C Difficile Infection (CDiff) rate. All inpatient areas outperformed the benchmark for the most recent eight quarters at document submission.

Receiving Magnet designation not only validates the high quality of nursing care but also shows that patient outcomes outperform national benchmarks and represent nursing’s top performance. It signals to patients, health care consumers and the public that Moffitt has been assessed by the highest standards in nursing excellence and has met the rigorous criteria.

While the designation is a badge of honor for Moffitt, patients reap the benefits, as well. Studies show that patients have better outcomes in Magnet hospitals and patient satisfaction is higher compared to non-Magnet hospitals.

Rogers says this designation also aids in attracting and retaining nurses and health care providers.

How Moffitt Achieved Magnet Designation

“The decision to seek Magnet designation is voluntary and is not a requirement for any organization. To begin the journey, first the organization decides to pursue Magnet designation after a thorough review of the Magnet standards and requirements,” Rogers said.

The journey to achieve the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet designation was meticulous, taking more than a year to collect and prepare the documents.

The process included the submission of documentation to support how Moffitt meets all Magnet standards, a review of the submitted documents by a team of Magnet appraisers and a site visit that was scheduled only after certain criteria was met.  

After the site visit, a written report was completed by the appraiser team. It was reviewed by the Commission on Magnet, which then voted on whether Magnet designation is awarded. The organization is then notified of the outcome of the commission vote.

Under Rogers’ leadership, hundreds of nurses from every level across the cancer center were actively engaged.

Involvement included providing examples that were used to showcase Moffit in the submitted Magnet documents, participating in shared-governance councils, serving as Magnet ambassadors and helping prepare for the site visit.

While it is not a standard for hospitals to be Magnet designated, the benefit of the recognition is amazing, as it shines a light on not only nursing excellence but also the entire organization as a whole.