Entity
The applicant organization must exist within a healthcare organization.
Nursing Leadership
The applicant organization must include one or more nursing settings with a single governing authority and one individual serving as the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO). The CNO is ultimately responsible for sustaining the standards of nursing practice in all areas in which nurses practice.
All entities (hospitals, long term care, rehab center, hospice, surgicenters, ambulatory clinics, etc.) and all settings (MedSurg, OB, NICU, ICU, CCU, Step-Down, Rehab, Pediatrics, Psych, ER, Dialysis, Home Care, Long Term Care, etc.) where the CNO is ultimately responsible for sustaining the standards of nursing practice in the environment in which nurses practice must be included. See the Magnet Recognition Program® 2008 Application Manual, Eligibility Criteria page 6.
The CNO must participate on the applicant organization's highest governing decision-making and strategic planning body.
The CNO must possess a Master's degree.
The CNO must have at a minimum a master’s degree at the time of application. If the master’s degree is not in nursing then either the baccalaureate degree or doctoral degree must be in nursing.
Standards for Nurse Administrators
Applicant organizations must have the American Nurses Association's Scope and Standards for Nurse Administrators (2004) currently implemented throughout nursing.
Protected Feedback Procedures
Applicant organizations must have policies and procedures that permit and encourage nurses to confidentially express their concerns about their professional practice environment without retribution. Policies and procedures that discourage nurses to express their concerns about their professional practice environment are prohibited.
Unfair Labor Practices
In the 3-year period preceding submission of the application, the applicant must not have committed an unfair labor practice involving a nurse, as determined in a fully and finally adjudicated proceeding or before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) or state or international regulatory agency with jurisdiction over labor relations and/or a reviewing federal, state, or international court. Only the Commission on Magnet may approve any exception to this criterion.
Regulatory Compliance
Applicant organizations must be in compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws, regulations, statutes, and accrediting body standards. This includes complying with the practices recommended in the National Patient Safety Goals (JCAHO).
Data Collection
Applicants for Magnet designation must collect nurse-sensitive quality indicators at the unit level and benchmark that data against a database at the highest/broadest level possible (i.e., national, state, specialty organization, regional, or system) to support research and quality improvement initiatives. The intent is to collect data that is applicable and value-added for the particular unit and organization. Organizations must contribute their own data (patient and nurse satisfaction, clinical nurse sensitive indicators) to a national database that compares the organization’s data against cohort groups at the national level.