Wake Forest Baptist Earns Highest Nursing Recognition, Marking 15 Years of Magnet Status

November 18, 2014

Nursing staff receives fourth designation from Magnet Recognition Program

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has received its fourth designation as a Magnet® hospital, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors recognizing the best in nursing excellence.

Magnet recognition is granted by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the credentialing body of the American Nurses Association, to honor outstanding health care organizations for nursing excellence, quality patient care and innovations in nursing practices. The medical center’s last designation came in 2009.

Wake Forest Baptist’s Chief Nurse Executive and Vice President, Clinical Operations, Cathleen A. Wheatley, M.S., R.N., C.E.N.P., praised the medical center’s nursing staff for their compassion, professionalism and accomplishments. “In the short time I have been at Wake Forest Baptist, I have been inspired by our nurses’ commitment to excellence, as well as our culture of collaboration and teamwork. This was overwhelmingly evident in our onsite Magnet survey.”

Magnet designation is achieved after successfully completing a process in which a team of professionals with experience in quality indicators, nursing administration, and nursing care appraises a hospital’s nursing services, clinical outcomes and patient care. Research data and extensive interviews help evaluate the nursing practice with respect to the patient, family, community and nursing services.

Wake Forest Baptist Health President and Chief Operating Officer, Karen Barbara “Bobbi” Carbone, M.D., M.B.A., underscored the importance of nurses in assuring the continuum of safety and quality in patient care. “The delivery of health care has undergone tremendous transformation over the last few years, calling on nurses to pioneer new care processes and protocols that are evidence-based, quality-focused and patient and family-centered. To once again receive this distinguished recognition validates the quality care and passion that our nurses bring to their patients each day.”

Wake Forest Baptist was one of the first hospitals in the country and the first in the Carolinas to achieve Magnet status in 1999. Today, there are more than 400 national and international health care organizations recognized by the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program. 

Media Relations

Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487

Shannon Putnam: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587