MHP  launches first Nursing Summit

Muskegon, Mich. (December 15, 2006) – Mercy Health Partners (MHP) recently launched its first offsite Nursing Summit at the Muskegon Community College Stevenson Center in early December.  Approximately 75 associates consisting of nurse managers, advance practice nurses, union leadership, and staff nurses attended the summit. 

The purpose of the summit was to introduce the Trinity Health Strategic Plan for nursing excellence in the patient care experience, MHP’s shared leadership model and goals, as well as the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet recognition program. 

“MHP is moving forward with launching Magnet over the next two years, says, Kim Maguire, MBA, RN, Chief Nursing Officer for MHP.  “We are excited about the benefits of being a Magnet hospital and how the community will be the recipient of increased hospital satisfaction and patient outcomes.”

To date, there are no Magnet hospitals along the lakeshore; MHP will be the first one to move in this direction of national recognition for nursing care. Since inception on the 1980’s, Magnet status has grown in interest nationally for a variety of reasons. Magnet hospitals affect many aspects of the patient experience and are considered the “gold standard” of recognition in the field of nursing.  Benefits for nurses who work in a Magnet hospital include, autonomy in clinical practice decision-making, involvement in nursing leadership, appropriate staffing ratios, increased RN satisfaction on the job, increased collaboration between physicians and nursing, integration of professional models of care and decrease in injuries due to needle-sticks.

Additionally, patients reap benefits during their hospital experience which include a decrease in length of stay, increase patient and family satisfaction, lower risk for falls, medication errors and post procedure complications, decrease in complaints from family, increase in the quality of nursing care and confidence in the hospital for being awarded the highest achievement for nursing care.

There are four phases of becoming a Magnet hospital.  There is the application phase, submission of written documentation and evaluation phase, on site-visit phase and the Magnet- decision phase.  MHP anticipates applying for Magnet status in 2007 with the process being completed sometime in 2008. Information will be forthcoming on MHP’s Magnet journey!

About Mercy Health Partners
MHP is the specialty referral hospital along the lakeshore. MHP’s specialty services include open heart, cardiology, vascular, emergency services, cancer care, orthopedic and spine surgery, urology, bariatric surgery/weight management, nephrology, ENT, palliative care and rehabilitation.  MHP promotes excellence in a variety of areas through specialized institutes and centers where specialty and primary care physicians and staff work collaboratively. Some of these centers include the Heart and Vascular Institute, the Centers for Women’s Health, the Center for Weight Management, the Imaging Center of Excellence and the Emergency Center.