14 N A T I O N A L N U R S E
E
verything you need to know about so-called
"Magnet status" for hospitals can be summed up
by the giant poster that hangs in the waiting room
of Maine Medical Center, the state's largest hospi-
tal. The poster, which features various assistant
vice presidents cheering in an auditorium amid
streamers and confetti, was put up last winter by
management in self-congratulation for the facility maintaining its
Magnet designation. But Amy Strum, an RN who has worked there
for 33 years, said that the decoration was a lot more trouble than it
was worth, both literally and figuratively.
"There was someone from maintenance told to put up this poster
board touting our Magnet achievements in the middle of our
crowded waiting room, where there was no room for it, so they
actually moved people around in the waiting room to put this thing
up," Strum said.
To nurses, the poster serves simply as window dressing to cover
up the serious staffing and patient care problems that being a Mag-
net facility failed to correct. "I'm not really sure even what Magnet
means," Strum said. "I haven't noticed any change in anything, in so
far as what it does for nurses or patients or anything."
Magnet designation is an entire system ostensibly designed to recog-
nize facilities with good working conditions for nurses, all in the name of
Keeping Up
Appearances
Magnet status is supposed
to signify better staffing
and working conditions
for nurses, but RNs say
it's just a costly marketing
tool that can't compete
with true empowerment
through unionization.
BY LU CY D I AV O L O
