By Laura Gasque
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Professor and Rachel Z. Booth Endowed Chair in Nursing Patricia A. Patrician, PhD, RN, FAAN, is one of two experts selected to help update the American Nurses Association’s Magnet Model criteria for hospitals. The Magnet designation recognizes a health care organization’s excellence in nursing and patient outcomes. The ANA wants to review and enhance the model to reflect current standards and ultimately to improve the health care system for both nurses and patients.
“The investment in the Magnet Model review is a significant step toward contemporizing its framework with the latest evidence, building a robust, relevant, and culturally sensitive model,” said Rebecca Graystone, PhD, MBA, RN, NE-BC, ANA Senior Vice President, Accreditation and Organization Credentialing.
The current Magnet Model was last updated in 2008 and is centered around five areas—empirical outcomes, exemplary professional practice, structural empowerment, transformational leadership, and new knowledge, innovations and improvements.
“This is quite an honor to have been selected for this important work and to engage in this research with my longtime colleague and friend, Dr. Sean Clarke,” Patrician said. “We were both at University of Pennsylvania when the accreditation for Magnet Nursing Services Recognition Program was just beginning, thanks to the work of our mentor, Dr. Linda Aiken and the many nurse scientists who recognized the effects of excellent work environments for nurses.”
The assessment will include a literature review and mixed methods study focusing on factors including nurse wellness, diversity, retention and impact on patient outcomes.
“We want our work to be relevant for years to come—for the nurse executive who leads our health care institutions to the nurse manager who directs the processes of care at the microsystem level, to the staff nurses who have direct influence on patients every day,” Patrician said. “If not for the staff nurse-patient interface, there really would not be a need for magnet hospitals.”
In 2022, Patrician and her research team received a $2.3 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant to develop and implement the Workplace Engagement for Compassionate Advocacy, Resilience and Empowerment (WE CARE) program to reduce burnout and promote mental health and well-being within the nursing profession. In 2023, Patrician was named American Organization for Nursing Leadership Nurse Researcher of the Year.
Patrician spent 26 years in the United States Army Nurse Corps and has dedicated much of her research to studying and developing quality work environments for nurses that lead to better outcomes for patients.
