The AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care: A Nursing Model as a Force of Magnetism

Headnote

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

*One of the 14 Forces of Magnetism requires a health care organization to have a professional model of care.

*The eligibility requirements stipulate that this model must be utilized throughout the health care system and that the same philosophy must be used throughout the system.

*The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Synergy Model for Patient Care describes nursing practice based on eight patient characteristics, and also describes eight nurse competencies.

*The core concept of the model is that the needs or characteristics of patients and families influence and drive the characteristics or competencies of nurses.

*Synergy results when the needs and characteristics of a patient, clinical unit, or system are matched with a nurse's competencies.

*The synergy model is an excellent framework to organize the work of patient care throughout the health care system.

*It can be used and applied in various ways and provides a comprehensive framework for assuring success in building a philosophy that supports the Forces of Magnetism.

MAGNET® STATUS IS AWARDED by the American Nurses' Credentialing Center (ANCC) to hospitals that satisfy a set of criteria designed to measure the strength and quality of their professional nursing practice. Designation as a Magnet hospital originated in the 1980s. It was awarded to hospitals that were successful in recruiting and retaining nurses during the nursing shortage of that time (Gleason, Sochalski, & Aikin, 1999). It is purported that nurses in Magnet-designated hospitals deliver excellent patient outcomes (The Center for Nursing Advocacy, 2006). When a health care organization receives Magnet designation, it is recognition of a facility's attainment of excellence (ANCC, 2006a).

"The Magnet Recognition Program ® identifies and defines the 'Forces of Magnetism' as the characteristics displayed by health care organizations that develop and maintain a professional practice environment that helps recruit and retain nurses" (ANCC, 2004). To date, over 200 hospitals in the United States and one in Australia are recognized with Magnet designation (ANCC, 2006b). For a health care organization to receive Magnet designation, the environment must be provided where nursing care promotes attainment of the highest achievable patient outcomes (ANCC, 2004). Evaluation of patient outcomes is an important topic because of the concern about the quality of healthcare.

One of the 14 Forces of Magnetism requires a...