A Qualitative Exploration of Chief Nursing Officer Perspectives on Maintaining Magnet® Designation

The purpose of this study was to determine chief nursing officer (CNO) perspectives on how to sustain the infrastructure required for successful American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet® redesignation.

American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet designation is a prestigious achievement reflective of years of dedication, innovation, mentoring, and leadership support. As challenging as the initial attainment of Magnet status can be, sustaining the success and becoming redesignated is considered even more difficult by many CNOs. However, there have been no published reports indicating how to be successful in Magnet redesignation.

A grounded theory qualitative approach was used, and data were collected through telephone interviews with CNOs who had successfully attained at least 1 redesignation.

Fourteen CNOs participated; data were organized into 6 themes and 15 subthemes describing the critical elements for Magnet redesignation.

Relationships among the 6 themes and subthemes are theorized in the form of a wheel with 6 spokes. When "set in motion," the wheel gathers momentum and all of the model elements become coalesced into the organizational ethos.