2009 MAGNET™ PROFILES - American Nurse Today

MAGNET PROFILES
Nursing research sheds light
on key nursing-care values
To prepare for their hospital’s Magnet redesignation,
nursing leaders formulated a philosophy of patient-care
delivery.
By Lori Neushotz, DNP, PMHCNS-BC, NP, CASAC; Kathleen Parisien, MA, RN; Carol Porter, DNP, MPA, RN;
Pamela Hoar, MSN, RN; Patricia Holloman, BSN, RN, CNOR; and Joyce J. Fitzpatrick, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN
Having a philosophy of patient-care delivery
gives nurses a framework, values, and beliefs
to guide their professional practice. The philosophy
should directly reflect the relationships
through which care is planned, coordinated, and
delivered. Identifying nurses’ top values is a critical
first step in formulating a philosophy of nursing
practice that has relevance and meaning for all
nursing staff.
As nursing leaders at our hospital prepared for
Magnet redesignation, they were particularly interested
in exploring such a philosophy. Overall
goals were to:
• identify the relevance of the existing philosophy
to nurses, particularly those providing bedside
care
• engage nurses at all levels in developing a new
philosophy of nursing—one that reflects core
values from their perspective.
Before the formal project was implemented, the
chief nursing officer (CNO) asked staff nurses about
their understanding of the existing philosophy of
nursing. The CNO found they had little
awareness of the philosophy and saw it as
only barely related to the care they provided.
work environments. However, while these reports
were relevant to the nursing department’s overall
goals, they weren’t specific to the philosophy of
nursing project, and thus aren’t included in this
report.
Phase 2: Research
In August 2007, the task force designed a formal survey
and distributed it to all registered nurses (RNs)
employed at the hospital. The survey focused on
identifying the values nurses considered most important
to the care they provided. (See Understanding the
study methods.)
Results
Of the 1,800 surveys distributed, 839 responses
were returned, for a response rate of 46.6%. Clinical
nurses accounted for 81% of respondents; nurse
leaders, advance practice nurses, and educators accounted
for 19%.
RNs from all inpatient and ambulatory care ar-
(continued on page 52)
Phase 1: Planning
The formal project had two phases—planning
and research. During early 2007, two
forums were held to generate discussion
about the need for a more clinically relevant
philosophy that was meaningful to direct
patient care. The first discussion occurred
among nursing leaders (directors and nurse
managers) at a regularly scheduled meeting.
Then during Nurses Week, nurses were
asked to list concepts relevant to nursing
care. Next, a task force was appointed to
launch a formal survey among all nurses.
A literature review found that no similar
projects had been conducted. It did find
several papers focused on creating healthy
50 American Nurse Today Volume 4, Number 8