The Mock Site Visit August 21-23 with our consulting partner, Michelle Trautman, from HealthLinx was an amazing success! We had 1 appraiser on campus who visited 20 care areas, including all inpatient units, the emergency department, PRI, Perioperative Services, TOSH, the Infusion Centers in the Cancer Institute and Paracentesis, Solid Organ Transplant and GI clinics on 3rd floor of the Outpatient Center. The appraiser also conducted several group sessions including meeting with executives, nursing directors, nursing managers, interprofessional and support teams (pharmacy, imaging, nutrition, EVS, etc.), human resources, clinical education and more. Over 450 UAMS team members participated in the mock site visit! I had the honor of attending every session and care area tour and I was overjoyed listening to clinical nurses describe why the love UAMS.
Some of the highlights from the visit included:
- Strong demonstration of nurse advocacy – Changing back to the previous PIV catheters after nurses voiced concern and documented issues with the new catheters – this was mentioned in nearly every session!
- CNO and Nurse Leader visibility – Leaders were mentioned as being visible, accessible, and supportive
- Nurses are challenged in their practice – UAMS provides an academic learning environment with challenging patient populations (Level I Trauma, High-Risk Pregnancy, etc.)
- Advancing in the Nursing Profession – Nurses discussed the professional development opportunities and growth in their nursing practice through education and role opportunities, like Resource RN, RNIV/V, ECMO tech, etc.
ANCC Magnet Site Visit, October 2-4
The ANCC Magnet Site Visit is scheduled for October 2-4. By the time you read the next newsletter, they will have already come and gone! We will have 3 appraisers on site at UAMS for 3 days. They will attend some sessions together, but for most of the time, we will have 3 teams running at once. The appraisers will visit all inpatient nursing care units and a few ambulatory care areas/clinics. Appraisers are very familiar with UAMS and the narratives of nursing excellence submitted in the Magnet Document. This visit is your chance to validate, verify, and amplify what is covered in the document. The other goal for the appraisers is to hear about other things that are exemplary, so that they can write it up to send to the Magnet Commission, who makes the final determination for Magnet Designation. If you are invited to attend a session, talk about major accomplishments and initiatives that you and your teams have been part of. We heard of many things during the mock site visit that were exemplary, like acquisition and launching of PD cyclers in the inpatient units, nurse advocacy to change back to the previous PIV catheters, new training and skills check off for ultrasound-guided PIV placement, re-implementation of CHG wipes for central line care, zone assignments for falls reduction, and many others. These are the things we want appraisers to hear about, because it demonstrates a continual journey of excellence in nursing practice and patient care.
You can also be honest about things we’re challenged with, like maintaining unit-based councils and staffing. It’s okay to say things like, ‘we know in a perfect world, it should really look like…..but we are working towards that in the following ways…” The following are some tips for how to interact with Magnet Appraisers:
- Don’t let there be any ‘dead air’ time! Keep the conversation going!
- Ask questions if you don’t understand something.
- Reply to appraisers’ questions directly, concisely, and with pride and enthusiasm.
- If you don’t know the answer to a question:
- Buy time by asking the appraiser to repeat or clarify the question. This gives you more time to formulate a response.
- Reply “I’ve never had to deal with that situation, but if I did I would . . .” Include that you could call a charge nurse, supervisor, or administrator, or find the answer in a resource (online policy/ procedure).
- Help each other out, if one of your peers is struggling, jump in and help answer the question.
- Take turns among different staff members responding to the questions. Include as many staff as possible and include disciplines other than nursing.
The most important thing to remember is the ANCC doesn’t give Magnet Designation to perfect organizations – it gives Magnet Designation to hospitals that are committed to Nursing Excellence. Magnet appraisers don’t expect us to be a perfect organization. If you are asked a question about something that you think we don’t do as well as we could, accentuate the positive about where we are, and add comments about what we continue to work on. A commitment to continual improvement is important and we want to frame comments in the most positive way possible.
It has been an honor to lead this initiative and the mock site visit reaffirmed why this is so important and how much our teams deserve to be recognized for the amazing work you do every day, which most of you describe as ‘just doing my job.’ There is nothing ordinary about what goes on at UAMS – and now we have the chance to shine a light on our work in a very big way. I am so excited to be able to celebrate this with you!
