Striving for magnet standard in nursing homes – a pilot project

There is a great challenge in recruiting and retaining health care personnel within the community health and medical care, and especially nurses who are the ones responsible for nursing care. Hence, we must find new ways to attract and retain registered nurses also in nursing homes and home health care. In the USA, research has been done for many years on how to create attractive workplaces and since the 90s there have been certified magnet hospitals where nurses rate their job satisfaction higher, they have lower staff turnover, better clinical results, more autonomous nurses, and higher patient satisfaction. There is currently a lack of research on how community healthcare can create the corresponding magnetism. In this project, the focus is mostly on the part that in the magnet model is called "structural empowerment” which includes structures for personal development and influencing opportunities.

The overall purpose of this project is to identify, describe, test, and evaluate how community health care can become an attractive and learning workplace that, like certified magnet hospitals, provides good conditions for care quality with a focus on competence provision and work environment. The target group for the intervention in the project is nurses and other licensed personnel within community health care.

Design and method

The project has a quasi-experimental approach with both qualitative and quantitative methods and will last for three years. The project is mainly based on case studies with mixed methods and includes an implementation of new ways of working in terms of the introduction of an introductory year, increased opportunities for influence, competence development, increased supervision competence and supervision structure. The primary outcome is job satisfaction / intention to stay at the workplace. Secondary outcome is improved teamwork (nurses and enrolled nurses) and more satisfied nursing students.

The project is inspired by the model and guided by the blueprint for Magnet Hospital^R and will be run in continuous interaction with the participating community, implemented according to the PDSA cycle (Plan-Do-Study-Act). The included community is Sundsvall, and the implementation will take place in two defined nursing homes.