St. Peter’s Hospital, part of St. Peter’s Health Partners (SPHP), has attained recognition as a Magnet®-designated organization for the fifth consecutive time by the American Nurses Credentialing Center® (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program®.
The prestigious Magnet designation recognizes excellence in nursing services and represents sustained and demonstrated patient care outcomes that are a result of superior nursing and interdisciplinary care. This credential is the highest national honor for professional nursing practice.
St. Peter’s Hospital is one of only 112 hospitals in the United States – less than two percent of hospitals nationwide – to achieve five consecutive Magnet designations. St. Peter’s Hospital is the only hospital in Albany, Rensselaer, or Schenectady counties, and one of only 51 in New York state, designated by Magnet.
Magnet recognition is the gold standard for nursing excellence and is a factor when the public judges health care organizations. U.S. News & World Report’s annual showcase of “America’s Best Hospitals” includes Magnet recognition in its ranking criteria for the quality of inpatient care.
St. Peter’s Hospital was first designated as a Magnet organization in 2005, and then again in 2009, 2015 and 2021.
“To say I am proud of my team is an understatement. It’s a great day to be a nurse at St. Peter’s,” said Meredith Robison, DNP, RN, CENP, chief nursing officer for St. Peter’s Health Partners Acute Care. “Magnet recognition is a tremendous honor and reflects our commitment to delivering the highest quality of care to this community. To earn Magnet recognition once was a great accomplishment and an incredible source of pride for our nurses. Receiving this distinction for the fifth time is an important milestone and reinforces what we hear from our patients every day: the nurses at St. Peter’s Hospital provide exceptional and compassionate care.”
“On behalf of everyone at St. Peter’s Hospital and SPHP, we applaud the efforts of our nurses and their success in achieving Magnet designation for the fifth consecutive time,” said Steven Hanks, MD, president and CEO of St. Peter’s Health Partners and St. Joseph’s Health in Syracuse. “Our repeated achievement of this credential underscores the foundation of excellence and values that drive all our colleagues across our system of care to strive harder each day to meet the health care needs of the community. I am extremely grateful and proud of the entire team that helped us to get here.”
ANCC informed St. Peter’s Hospital of the news this morning during a conference call. On the call, David Marshall, JD, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, the Chair of the Commission for the Magnet Recognition Program®, praised the work of St. Peter’s Hospital and its nurses. Specifically, he applauded the role of nurses in achieving 11 exemplars identified during the appraiser process.
The Magnet Model provides a framework for nursing practice, research, and measurement of outcomes. Through this framework, ANCC evaluates applicants across a number of components and dimensions to gauge an organization’s nursing excellence.
Research demonstrates that Magnet recognition provides specific benefits to health care organizations and their 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 rates.
- Higher job satisfaction among nurses.
- Lower nurse reports of intentions to leave their positions.
“I’ve been a nurse here for 46 years. I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am to work here, to work with these wonderful nurses, who use Magnet as their north star to guide practice as they care for the community,” said Carole Wickham, DNS, RN, CNS-BC, SPHP’s Director of Professional Practice and Nursing Research. Wickham, who is the Magnet Program Director, went on to note, “Magnet advances the profession of nursing and nursing practice. It is the voice of the nurse, highlighting the power of nursing and how integral we are to patient care.”
To achieve initial Magnet recognition, organizations must pass a rigorous and lengthy process that demands widespread participation from leadership and staff. This process includes an electronic application, written patient care documentation, an on-site visit, and a review by the Commission on Magnet Recognition.
Health care organizations must reapply for Magnet recognition every four years based on adherence to Magnet concepts and demonstrated improvements in patient care and quality. An organization reapplying for Magnet recognition must provide documented evidence to demonstrate how staff members sustained and improved Magnet concepts, performance and quality over the four-year period since the organization received its most recent recognition.
About ANCC’s Magnet Recognition Program
The Magnet Recognition Program — administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the largest and most prominent nurses credentialing organization in the world — identifies health care organizations that provide the very best in nursing care and professionalism in nursing practice.
The Magnet Recognition Program serves as the gold standard for nursing excellence and provides consumers with the ultimate benchmark for measuring quality of care. For more information about the Magnet Recognition Program and current statistics, visit www.nursingworld.org/magnet.
About St. Peter’s Hospital
St. Peter’s Hospital, an affiliate of St. Peter’s Health Partners, is the largest Catholic acute care community hospital in northeastern New York state. Located in Albany, New York, the hospital was founded in 1869 by the Religious Sisters of Mercy. St. Peter’s offers a comprehensive range of inpatient and outpatient services and diverse outreach programs in the areas of women’s and children’s services, neonatal intensive care, rehabilitation, surgery, ambulatory care, outpatient medical imaging, and care for the elderly. For more information, please visit www.sphp.com.
About St. Peter’s Health Partners
With 11,000 employees in more than 185 locations, St. Peter’s Health Partners is one of the Capital Region’s largest and most comprehensive not-for-profit integrated health care networks, and provides high-quality, compassionate, and sophisticated care to thousands of people every day. St. Peter’s Health Partners is a member of Trinity Health, one of the nation’s largest Catholic health systems. For more information, please visit www.sphp.com.
