When I stepped into the role of Magnet® program director, I’ll be honest with you—I wasn’t sure our clinical nurses would match my excitement about our organization’s first journey to designation. Not because they aren’t excellent. They are. But to them, I feared that Magnet felt like another organizational initiative that existed in boardrooms and not at the bedside. I worried they’d feel like it was something being done to nurses rather than done for and with nurses.

After my organization’s first Magnet site visit, I realized that my worries were unfounded.

The Magnet Recognition Program designation, awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), is one of the highest honors a healthcare organization can receive for nursing excellence. Yet Magnet is more than a designation. It is a framework that illuminates the principles of nursing excellence that nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners champion every day.

Although only a small percentage of U.S. hospitals are Magnet-designated, the framework’s core principles are relevant to every NPD practitioner. When viewed through the lens of the NPD Scope and Standards, Magnet becomes less about recognition and more about creating environments where nurses thrive (Harper & Maloney, 2022).

What Magnet Actually Is—and What It Isn’t

Shared Governance: A Seat at the Table

One of Magnet’s foundational expectations is shared professional governance. Nurses are not simply expected to implement decisions; they have a seat at the table to help make those decisions. Unit councils, practice committees, and policy workgroups provide structures through which nurses influence practice and organizational priorities. This principle aligns closely with Standard 11, Collaboration, and Standard 12, Leadership, in the NPD Scope and Standards (Harper & Maloney, 2022). NPD practitioners regularly partner with nurses and interprofessional partners, support shared decision-making, and serve as change agents within organizations.

In practice, this may involve facilitating a council meeting, assisting a clinical nurse through a practice-change proposal, or supporting nurses when they present concerns and solutions to leadership. These activities strengthen professional autonomy and engagement regardless of whether an organization is pursuing Magnet designation. Shared governance is a hallmark of a healthy nurse practice environment.

Investing in Professional Growth

Magnet-designated organizations provide support for nursing education, certification, and career advancement. NPD practitioner teams are valued as essential partners in making that happen, as reflected in Standard 13, Education. Standard 13 calls on NPD practitioners to engage in and promote lifelong learning, encourage certification, and prepare nurses for future practice demands (Harper & Maloney, 2022). Through their roles as learning facilitators and mentors, NPD practitioners help nurses build competence and confidence throughout their careers. Examples of this in action can include certification review programs, mentorship initiatives, individualized development plans, and educational pathways for career advancement. Ultimately, nurses who feel supported are more likely to remain committed to the nursing profession and to their organization.

Scholarly Inquiry: Where the NPD Role and Magnet Meet

Among the seven roles within the NPD Practice Model, one of the most visible during a Magnet journey is being a champion for inquiry. This aligns directly with NPD Standard 14, Scholarly Inquiry (Harper & Maloney, 2022). NPD practitioners support evidence-based practice (EBP), quality improvement (QI), and the generation of new knowledge by helping nurses ask clinical questions, evaluate evidence, and implement improvements. Through journal clubs, EBP and QI projects, or conference presentations, NPD practitioners help cultivate a spirit of inquiry.

Magnet appraisers seek evidence of this culture because organizations that encourage inquiry continuously seek to improve patient care and the nurse practice environment. For NPD practitioners, this work reinforces something important: The NPD Practice Model and the Magnet framework are complementary in advancing nursing excellence.

The Power of Reflection

Here’s what surprised me most as a first-time Magnet program director: the power of the process itself. Pursuing Magnet gives an organization the opportunity to look inward and reflect honestly. It prompts important questions: Are our nurses engaged? Do they feel heard? Are we providing opportunities for growth? What are our patient outcomes telling us?

For our organization, that reflection identified opportunities for improvement. We worked as a team to address the opportunities revealed, which led to measurable gains and meaningful stories worth telling. More importantly, the process helped us recognize strengths we had not fully appreciated! We had nurse-sensitive outcomes that outperformed national benchmarks, leading us to earn several exemplars. The process gave us a structured way to evaluate our practice and celebrate our successes.

This process mirrors NPD Standards 1-5 (Harper & Maloney, 2022). An example in action might include an NPD practitioner reviewing infection or fall data, collaborating with key partners, designing an educational intervention, and evaluating the results. This cycle forms the foundation of continuous improvement and represents the work of NPD practitioners everywhere.

Advocacy Through Storytelling

One of the most rewarding aspects of the Magnet journey has been giving nurses the opportunity to see their work recognized in writing. Capturing stories of innovation, leadership, and compassionate care allowed nurses to see their contributions recognized and celebrated. Seeing nurses read their own contributions in these stories remains one of the most rewarding aspects of the journey. This work reflects NPD Standard 8, Advocacy, which calls on NPD practitioners to champion nurses and demonstrate the value of nursing practice (Harper & Maloney, 2022).

Advocacy looks like helping to make a nurse’s work visible. It may involve submitting projects for publication, presenting outcomes to leadership, nominating nurses for awards, or sharing success stories across an organization. These actions NPD practitioners can take ensure that nursing contributions are recognized by colleagues, leaders, and other departments.

The Magnet journey formalizes our storytelling, but advocacy itself isn’t unique to Magnet organizations. Every NPD practitioner has opportunities to elevate the voices and accomplishments of nurses.

When Nurses Thrive, Patients Thrive

Research consistently demonstrates positive outcomes in Magnet-designated organizations. A 2025 study using National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) data found that Magnet-designated organizations reported stronger practice environments, greater job satisfaction, and higher retention scores among nurses compared to organizations that were not Magnet-designated (George et al., 2025). Furthermore, the impact extends to the patients. Magnet-designated organizations demonstrated lower rates of hospital-acquired infections, fewer patient falls, lower inpatient mortality and higher patient satisfaction when compared to organizations without Magnet designation (Connor et al., 2023).

These findings align with NPD Standard 6, Evaluation and, 15, Quality of Practice. NPD practitioners collect, analyze, and communicate outcome data while evaluating the impact of educational initiatives. Whether an NPD practitioner is tracking certification rates, competency outcomes, retention metrics, or nurse-sensitive indicators, they help connect professional development efforts to measurable patient and nurse practice outcomes. This demonstrates something powerful: When nurses feel empowered, patients feel it, too. The care delivered at the bedside connects directly to these outcomes.

Why This Matters for NPD Practice

For NPD practitioners, the Magnet framework offers a validated, evidence-based structure for advocating for nursing investment at the organizational level. Understanding the relationship between the Magnet framework and NPD standards strengthens the NPD practitioner’s ability to advocate for initiatives such as certification support, shared governance engagement, professional development programs, and EBP projects. The activities that NPD practitioners lead every day are the same activities that Magnet recognizes as indicators of nursing excellence.

You Are Not a Bystander

Magnet matters because nursing excellence matters. The framework that includes shared governance, professional development, scholarly inquiry, advocacy, and continuous quality improvement, aren’t exclusive to Magnet organizations. They are also embedded throughout the NPD Scope and Standards of Practice.

So here is the call to action: Share ideas in shared governance meetings. Pursue certification. Speak up when practice can be improved. Participate in quality-improvement initiatives. Tell your stories. These actions reflect the NPD standards and strengthen nursing excellence in every setting.

The nurses at my organization care about Magnet, not necessarily because of the designation itself, but they care about having a voice, growing professionally, improving patient care, and being recognized for their contributions. These really are the same priorities that drive NPD practice!

Whether your organization is Magnet-designated, on the journey to designation, or has no plans to apply, the NPD work remains the same. As NPD practitioners, we help create environments where nurses succeed. We build cultures of inquiry, promote professional growth, support shared decision-making, improve quality, and advocate for the nursing profession.

NPD practitioners: you know nurses. You see the potential, the challenges, and the transformation. Lean into that role with intention, because nursing excellence is not a destination reached by chance. It is built through countless moments of learning, leadership, and advocacy, story by story and nurse by nurse, every single day. This is where your work leaves its mark, and where your impact is felt most profoundly.

 

References

Connor, L., Beckett, C., Zadvinskis, I., Melnyk, B. M., Brown, R., Messinger, J., & Gallagher-Ford, L. (2023). The association between Magnet® recognition and patient outcomes: A scoping review. Journal of Nursing Administration, 53(10), 500–507. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001325

George, N., Pascale, A., & Warshawsky, N. E. (2025). Practice environment and nurse outcomes by ANCC designation: Insights from NDNQI. Journal of Nursing Management, 2025(1), 1772029. https://doi.org/10.1155/jonm/1772029

Harper, M. G., & Maloney, P. (2022). Nursing professional development: Scope and standards of practice (4th ed.). Association for Nursing Professional Development.