Christine Ribbens Grimm, a registered nurse on the Prechter team, was recently selected to serve in the role of magnet ambassador for Outpatient Psychiatry. Magnet designation recognizes health-care organizations for creating an environment that emphasizes quality patient care, transformational leadership, and innovations in professional nursing practice. Christine’s magnet ambassador role will involve communicating and collaborating with the unit-based committee in Psychiatry, as well as the larger team of nurse representatives from everyunit within the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS), to identify strengths and areas for improvement within the field of nursing. This work is being done as part of UMHS’s effort to achieve magnet status by February 2017.
Magnet status was first described by The American Academy of Nursing in the early 1980s to define a cluster of hospitals found to possess qualities that enabled greater capacity to attract and retain nurses. Since then, magnet designation has evolved into a data driven process which focuses on continually improving patient outcomes. “Magnet organizations are consistently found to have higher patient satisfaction rates,” says Christine. She is excited to be able to bring quality improvement ideas into her work as a research nurse. In addition, she states: “I am proud to be a part of an effort that promotes leadership and encourages nurses to flourish as professionals.” The magnet designation is recognized worldwide as an indicator of nursing excellence.