Creating the Framework for a Healthy Practice Environment.

The link between healthy work environments and patient safety, nursing satisfaction, and quality outcomes is well established, yet many nurses work in environments that are unsafe and uncivil. What are the essential elements that contribute to a healthy practice environment? How can we create roles and working conditions that enable nurses to be fulfilled and happy in their careers? This month's Magnet Perspectives column explores the relationship between a healthy practice environment and better outcomes and examines how the Journey to Magnet Excellence® leads to higher nurse satisfaction and retention, improved interdisciplinary collaboration, excellent patient care, and exemplary patient results.

A conceptual framework for planning and assessing learning in continuing education activities designed for clinicians in one profession and/or clinical teams.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide a more actionable description of the components of the outcomes framework published in 2009.

Methods: Synthesis of recent research in the learning sciences.

Results: The authors propose a conceptual framework to be used planning learning activities and assessing learning in CPD.

Leveraging Continuing Professional Development to Meet Your Organization's Strategic Goals.

In this month's Magnet Perspectives column, the director of Primary and Joint Accreditation for the American Nurses Credentialing Center reflects on the importance of continuing professional development for the chief nursing officer (CNO), the nurses, and the healthcare team the CNO leads, as well as the impact on patients.

An interactive faculty development workshop designed to improve knowledge, skills (competence), attitudes, and practice in interprofessional continuing education.

Purpose: Interprofessional continuing education (IPCE) health care educators must plan activities as members of interprofessional teams and deliver activities to an interprofessional audience. Evidence in the literature suggests they are not well prepared to meet this challenge. This paper reviews one strategy to improve the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices of IPCE educators.

Instruments to Evaluate Nurse Residency Programs: A Review of the Literature.

The purpose of this literature review was to explore evaluation instruments used by nurse residency programs to evaluate outcomes. The 15 studies found yielded 26 instruments, and all instruments were subjective, dated, and varied in how they were used. Nursing professional development practitioners should use a combination of reliable, valid, and current evaluation methods to appraise their nurse residency programs in order to demonstrate program quality and effectiveness.

Magnet® or Pathway® Recognition: Comparing and Contrasting.

The Directors of the Magnet Recognition Program® and Pathway to Excellence® use this column to compare and contrast the 2 programs. Both programs profile nursing excellence.

Conceptualization and Operationalization of Certification in the US and Canadian Nursing Literature.

Objective: To identify how certification is defined, conceptualized, and discussed in the nursing literature.

Background: Although it is hypothesized that credentialing is associated with better patient outcomes, the evidence is relatively limited. Some authors have suggested that the lack of consistency used to define certification in nursing literature may be one of the dominant obstacles in credentialing research.

So You're Thinking About the Journey to Magnet® Recognition…?

The Director of the Magnet Recognition Program® presents a list of resources available to organizations either on the journey to Magnet® or contemplating setting this prestigious designation of nursing excellence as a goal.

Debunking the "Myths" of Magnet®.

Rebecca Graystone, the Magnet Program Director, dispels some myths about the Magnet Recognition Program®. Ms Graystone encourages leaders interested in Magnet or those already designated to feel free to access resources including those of the Magnet Program Office.

2017 National Magnet Nurses of the Year®.

The Magnet Recognition Program® recognizes healthcare organizations for quality patient care, nursing excellence, and innovations in professional nursing practice. Consumers rely on the Magnet designation as the ultimate credential for high-quality nursing. The ANCC National Magnet Nurse of the Year® awards were created in 2010 to recognize the outstanding contributions of clinical nurses for innovation, consultation, leadership, and professional risk taking.

Using the Magnet® Criteria to Document New Graduate Nurses' Transition to Practice.

Nursing professional development practitioners are partners in practice transitions for new graduate nurses. Organizations seeking Magnet® designation need to demonstrate how new graduate nurses transition in the written documentation submitted to the American Nurses Credentialing Center. This article explores current strategies used by Magnet®-designated organizations and connects the strategies to the six new elements of the new 2019 Magnet® criterion, Structural Empowerment 9.

Disseminating Knowledge Through Publication: Magnet® Nurses Changing Practice.

Clinical nurses and nurse leaders are inspiring and fostering amazing outcomes. In this column, the new Magnet Recognition Program® director discusses the expectation for dissemination of outcomes from Magnet®-designated organizations building on work presented at the 2017 National Magnet Conference™.

Magnet® Enculturation.

In this column, the senior manager for the Magnet Appraiser Program® relates the importance of the components of the journey to Magnet with developing and sustaining a culture of excellence through the appraisal period and beyond. Sustainment of excellence includes regular critical assessments and support in nursing practice, governance models, and resources throughout organizational settings where nursing is practiced.

The 2019 Magnet® Application Manual: Nursing Excellence Standards Evolving With Practice.

The American Nurses Credentialing Center's Magnet Recognition Program® released the 2019 Magnet® Application Manual () in October. The 2019 manual is the 12th application manual in the 27-year history of the program. The manual builds upon the foundation of seminal research conducted in the early 1980s that led to the creation of the program yet incorporates contemporary standards that address challenges faced globally by healthcare organizations today.

Impact of High-Reliability Education on Adverse Event Reporting by Registered Nurses.

Adverse event reporting is one strategy to identify risks and improve patient safety, but, historically, adverse events are underreported by registered nurses (RNs) because of fear of retribution and blame. A program was provided on high reliability to examine whether education would impact RNs' willingness to report adverse events. Although the findings were not statistically significant, they demonstrated a positive impact on adverse event reporting and support the need to create a culture of high reliability.

Meet ANCC's New Executive Leaders.

In October 2016, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) announced the appointment of Loressa Cole, DNP, MBA, RN, FACHE, NEA-BC, as its new executive director and executive vice president and Jeffrey Doucette, DNP, RN, CENP, FACHE, NEA-BC, LNHA, as its new vice president of the Magnet Recognition® and Pathway to Excellence® Programs. In this Magnet® Perspectives column, we learn more about these 2 dynamic leaders at the helm of ANCC.