NCH receives highest nursing credential with prestigious Magnet® Redesignation
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (June 23, 2015) - Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH) has again achieved Magnet® redesignation for its nursing excellence as part of the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program®. This credential is the highest honor an organization can receive for professional nursing practice - only about 7 percent of the nation's hospitals have met the criteria to earn this prestigious designation.
"NCH is honored to achieve Magnet recognition once again for achievements in nursing and patient care. Our nurses have raised the bar of excellence," Kimberly Nagy, Chief Nursing Officer at NCH, said during an announcement before nurses, nursing leaders, physicians, staff and senior executives. "This recognition doesn't just happen. We continue to raise the bar higher and higher. The level of care we provide and our tenacity demonstrates that NCH is committed to delivering exceptional patient care."
NCH, which employs 1,066 nurses, was first designated as a Magnet organization in 2006, and then again in 2010. Hospitals must reapply for Magnet recognition every four years based on adherence to Magnet concepts and demonstrated improvements in patient care and quality.
Magnet recognition has become the gold standard for nursing excellence and is often viewed as an important benchmark for many patients seeking the highest quality of care. In fact, U.S. News & World Report's annual showcase of "America's Best Hospitals" includes Magnet recognition in its ranking criteria for quality of inpatient care.
Magnet recognition has been shown to provide specific benefits to hospitals and communities, such as:
• Higher patient satisfaction with nurse communication, availability of help, and receipt of discharge information
• Lower risk of 30-day mortality and lower failure to rescue
• Lower rates of patient falls
• Higher job satisfaction among nurses
The rigorous Magnet recognition process culminated with a three-day site visit in late April to review all aspects of NCH's nursing care. During that time, Magnet appraisers met with nurses, physicians, employees, community members, patients and families to determine whether NCH meets the standards for Magnet designation. After this rigorous on-site review process, the Commission on Magnet reviewed the completed appraisal report and voted to determine whether NCH would attain Magnet recognition.
As an organization reapplying for Magnet recognition, NCH provided documented evidence of how Magnet concepts, performance, and quality were sustained and improved over the four-year period since the hospital received its most recent recognition.
"While the Magnet redesignation recognizes NCH's nursing excellence, this latest credential could not have been achieved without the commitment of the entire organization," Nagy said. "Magnet recognition is truly an organization-wide accomplishment."
In particular, the Magnet model is designed to provide a framework for nursing practice, research, and measurement of outcomes. Through this framework, ANCC can assess applicants across a number of components and dimensions to gauge an organization's nursing excellence. The foundation of this model is composed of various elements deemed essential to delivering superior patient care. These include the quality of nursing leadership and coordination and collaboration across specialties, as well as processes for measuring and improving the quality and delivery of care.
Being recognized as a Magnet facility for the third time is a great achievement for NCH as it continues to proudly belong to the Magnet community - a select group of 414 healthcare organizations out of nearly 6,000 in the U.S., according to ANCC. Only 2 percent of U.S. hospitals have been recognized as a Magnet facility three times.
About Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH)
Serving Chicago's northwest suburbs since 1959, NCH is a comprehensive, patient-centered system of care that serves more than 350,000 outpatients each year and more than 20,000 inpatients treated annually at the 496-bed acute care hospital in Arlington Heights. The award-winning hospital holds the prestigious Magnet designation for nursing excellence, is designated as a Primary Stroke Center, earned the Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval in 2014, and was awarded the Leapfrog Group's designation as one of the nation's Top Hospitals based on quality and safety criteria. NCH has four Immediate Care locations in the northwest suburbs and operates an NCH Easy Access walk-in clinic in Palatine. NCH has a medical staff of more than 1,000 physicians, which includes the board-certified primary care doctors and specialists of the NCH Medical Group. These physicians have selected our facility as a place where they want to treat and care for their private patients. For more information, or to find a doctor on the NCH Medical staff, visit www.nch.org.