Receives Magnet Award:
Medical Center Nurses Hailed for Outstanding Patient Care

Some of the 1,400 staff nurses at NYU Medical Center cheer the news delivered by Susan Bowar-Ferres, Ph.D., R.N., Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer (shown in violet suit in top photo), that NYU has received the Magnet Award for excellence in nursing. Magnet facilities have positive outcomes for nurses and patients alike: lower mortality rates, shorter lengths of stay, increased patient satisfaction, and increased retention and recruitment rates among nurses.

When Susan Bowar-Ferres, Ph.D., R.N., Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, appears on the floors of Tisch Hospital or the Rusk Institute, it’s a sure bet that staff nurses take notice. But on a recent Tuesday morning, they noticed a particularly broad smile on her face and a small lapel pin on her violet suit. The pin bore the word Magnet, which explained to everyone present why she was beaming.

“I’m here to announce,” she said cheerily several times to groups of nurses who gathered at the nursing stations she visited, “that we are Magnet nurses at a Magnet hospital.” With this long-awaited news, the nurses realized that NYU Medical Center had just been admitted to a highly select group of hospitals and medical centers honored for their excellence in nursing.

The message Dr. Bowar-Ferres chose to deliver personally that day—with plenty of celebratory hugs and kisses—was in fact the culmination of a long, complex process that began in the fall of 2002, when NYU submitted its application for the Magnet Recognition Program. As part of that process, so rigorous that it discourages some hospitals from even applying, the Medical Center provided voluminous documentation and hosted a week-long inspection by the Magnet Commission. The final hurdle was a “blind” review of NYU’s application by the Magnet Commission.

Conferred on less than two percent of the nation’s hospitals, the prestigious Magnet Award signifies that an institution’s nurses have the finest education, adhere to the highest standards of professionalism, and provide the best patient care. According to the American Nurses Credentialing Center, “Magnet recognition provides consumers with the ultimate benchmark to measure the quality of care they can expect
to receive.”

Jubilant nurses throughout the Medical Center expressed their delight that their work has been officially and publicly recognized. On the Transplant Surgery unit, Margaret Frank, R.N., Nurse Manager, said, “In a word, I’m happy! We’ll continue to do the quality care we’ve been doing, but now we’ll be recognized throughout the city and the country.” And on the 4 West unit of Rusk, Piedad D. Angeles, R.N., Nurse Manager, exclaimed, “It’s the ultimate. We know we’ve been functioning at the Magnet level, and this really confirms we’re great.”

The Magnet recognition program was developed in 1994 by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a subsidiary of the American Academy of Nursing. The task force that conducted the study that led to the creation of the program was chaired by Margaret L. McClure, Ed.D., R.N., FAAN, a former Chief Operating Officer of NYU Medical Center and former President of the American Academy of Nursing.

“This is wonderful news,” declared Eric C. Rackow, M.D., President of NYU Hospitals Center, “and we intend to celebrate this great achievement within the Medical Center with a special event and a prominent announcement in the press.”