The energy in the room was electric, and the attendees—both in the Polett Boardroom at TUH-Main Campus and joining virtually from Jeanes Campus—couldn’t contain their excitement. They were minutes away from a video call that would end months of anticipation, and that would be the culmination of years of preparation and hard work.
On the other end of the line would be Sharon Pappas, RN, PhD, NEA-BC, Chair of the Commission for the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)’s Magnet Recognition Program, who would tell our nurses whether Temple University Hospital had earned Magnet re-designation.
In the healthcare world, Magnet is all-important: it’s nationally recognized as the gold standard for nursing excellence. The certification process requires hospitals and health systems to outperform national benchmarks on nurse-sensitive clinical quality indicators, patient experience, and registered nurse satisfaction. They must also demonstrate adherence to standards for improving the quality of patient care, inter-professional collaboration, leadership of the chief nurse executive in supporting professional practice, and continued proficiency of nursing personnel.
Very few organizations meet these benchmarks—which is why less than 10% of U.S. hospitals are Magnet-designated. TUH first earned Magnet recognition in 2019, and became eligible to apply again in 2024. As part of this process, ANCC surveyors visited our TUH-Main, Episcopal, Jeanes, and Northeastern campuses, as well as the Fox Chase-Temple University Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Jeanes. These site visits reflected over four years of effort by our extraordinary nursing teams, and were a chance to demonstrate the exceptional quality of our care.
A Unanimous Vote of Confidence
When the video call from the ANCC came in, the room fell silent—but the smile on Pappas’ face signaled that good news was coming. She addressed Chaudron Carter Short, PhD, EdD, MHA, MHEd, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nurse Executive and Executive Vice President of Temple Health.
“It is my high honor and privilege to officially notify you that the Commission on Magnet has voted to credential Temple University Hospital as a Magnet organization for the second time,” she said.
Suddenly, confetti was everywhere, and almost nothing could be heard over the cheering. Nurses were applauding and hugging each other, and setting off noisemakers and streamers. The only thing that stopped the noise was Pappas’ announcement that TUH had also earned five exemplars.
One of those exemplars, she explained, was for the fact that so many of our nurses (80% at the time of our site visits) had earned a baccalaureate or higher in nursing. Another was for the work our nurses do to provide culturally- and socially-sensitive care, including our successful Behavioral Health de-escalation and restraint reduction initiatives at TUH-Episcopal Campus, as well as our programs that ensure patients make it to their appointments, provide free Uber rides and dry socks, and connect with young people in our community.
We also received exemplars for nursing initiatives involving three types of patient outcomes: the first, for falls with injuries; the second, for the fact that our 60-minute door-to-needle time outperformed the benchmark statistic for all eight quarters; and the third, for our inpatient satisfaction on pain, which outperformed the benchmark statistic for all eight quarters on a majority of our units.
A Picture-Perfect Moment
As our nurses took a moment to process these outstanding results, Carter Short addressed the TUH teams in the room and on the video call.
“You did a wonderful job,” she told them. “You’re committed to our community, you’re committed to our patient population, and you provide an incredible service to Temple. I couldn’t be more honored to say thank you for all that you do. So thank you—because of you, we’re re-designated Magnet!”
Carter Short also gave a special shout-out to Lois Scipione, MSN, RN-BC, NPD-BC, AVP of Nursing Education, Professional Practice & Magnet, for leading the charge to Magnet re- designation
After her remarks, Carter Short led the crowd into the Erny Auditorium for a group photo, where they lined up on the stage to celebrate this historic moment. And when the camera flash went off, it was easy to visualize the image that would appear: it would be a picture of excellence.