Two Geisinger facilities in Luzerne County are among just 10% of hospitals nationwide to meet the rigorous standards to be recognized by a nursing quality recognition program.
Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre have been recognized by The American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program, the highest national honor for professional nursing practice. ANCC is a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association.
WVIA spoke with Renee Blakiewicz, R.N., chief nursing officer of Geisinger’s northeast region, about what the Magnet designation means, as well as her thoughts on how the profession is evolving.
To achieve Magnet recognition, organizations must pass a lengthy process that demands widespread participation from leadership and staff. It includes an electronic application, written patient care documentation, an on-site visit and a review by the Magnet Commission.
“I think the important message to patients really is that the nurses are dedicated to their profession. And their profession is taking care of them in the best way they know how. And that is through evidence-based practice,” Blakiewicz said. “It's about nurses’ engagement in their work.”
Magnet recognition is the gold standard for nursing excellence. The Magnet model provides a framework for nursing practice, research and measurement of outcomes with a foundation composed of elements essential to superior patient care, officials said. 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.
ANCC research shows that Magnet recognition provides specific benefits including:
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 rates.
Higher job satisfaction among nurses.
Lower nurse reports of intentions to leave their positions
The designation “also acknowledges Geisinger as a health care system where nurses can excel in their professional practice,” said Janet Tomcavage, R.N., executive vice president and chief nursing executive.
For Blakiewicz, it’s a testament to the efforts of 750 nurses under her charge who are part of the Magnet-recognized units, and to the entire team which spent over a year preparing documentation for the process.
“Three surveyors come from ANCC, and they survey the hospital to ensure that what we said in our document is actually what's occurring,” Blakiewicz said. “They literally talk to every nurse without a leader present.”
“It is incredibly intense,” Blakiewicz added.
With 1,300 nurses under her charge across the region as a whole, Blakiewicz said she and her team are looking at seeking Magnet recognition for other Geisinger facilities.
A Lackawanna County native, Blakiewicz graduated from nursing school in 1993 and spent the majority of her career at Community Medical Center in Scranton, which was acquired by Geisinger in 2012.
Her drive to care for others began when she was a child.
“There's a part of me that advocates to the death for everybody. And that started with my brothers. And I still do that for them today. And now I have children, so advocacy is something that is incredibly important to me,” said Blakiewicz, who spent 15 years working in the intensive care unit.
She has seen advances in technology influence care on all levels – a positive development – but also a more tense society in which healthcare workers have to me more concerned about violence in hospitals, a tragic development that is by no means limited to our region.
The past four years have brought two massive challenges to the entire profession: The COVID-19 pandemic and nursing staff shortages.
“These are the folks at the bedside every day with our patients. And they saw way more than any human being should have to see,” Blakiewicz said.
“It's going to take us some time to rebuild. The team here is more than capable,” she said.
Scoring a second Magnet recognition serves to reinforce that.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Blakiewicz said.
