Lee Health's Magnet Journey: Our Commitment to Excellence
At Lee Health, our nurses are at the heart of our organization and vital to the delivery of exceptional, compassionate, patient-centered care. We are committed to strengthening and enhancing shared governance, ensuring the voices of our nurses are heard and responded to in meaningful ways and enabling leadership at every level. We are on a journey to excellence and Magnet recognition.
Developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the Magnet Recognition Program is built on five key components:
- Transformational Leadership;
- Structural Empowerment;
- Exemplary Professional Practice;
- New Knowledge, Innovations and Improvement; and
- Empirical Outcomes.
Magnet Recognition is the highest honor, the most prestigious designation for nursing excellence, quality patient care and innovation.
Each of our hospitals—Cape Coral Hospital, Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida, Gulf Coast Medical Center, HealthPark Medical Center and Lee Memorial Hospital—are focused on hardwiring the Magnet components, building on the 107+ year history of care provided by Lee Health nurses.
Achieving Magnet Recognition demonstrates to our patients, families, the community and our team members throughout Lee Health that we provide exceptional care that results in better outcomes and improved satisfaction and engagement with our nursing team. It illustrates our commitment to a collaborative culture that advances nursing standards and practice.
Magnet Recognition is not just something to achieve. It is a commitment to continuous improvement and the standards required to attain—and maintain—the recognition are rigorous.
I invite you to click through each of our hospitals to meet the chief nursing & operational executive, gain more insight into each facility and learn more about the hospital’s journey to excellence.
If you are a nurse ready to join us at Lee Health on our journey to excellence, click here to search for current career opportunities.
Learn More About Lee Health Hospitals & Their Magnet Journey
As one of the largest community-focused nonprofit health systems in Florida, Lee Health provides exceptional and convenient care throughout SWFL. Being on a Magnet® journey has been an integral part of creating and sustaining a culture of excellence with a focus on patient care resulting in improved outcomes. Click an image below to learn more about our magnet recognized hospitals and opportunities to join our amazing nursing staff.
Lee Health Becoming “Magnet”
Our Magnet Journey began in 2020 as we started making steps towards empowering our nursing staff, creating innovations in professional nursing practice, and building greater nursing research. The American Nurses Credentialing Center developed the Magnet Recognition Program for Excellence in Nursing Services. The five key components of the Magnet model include: Transformational Leadership; Structural Empowerment; Exemplary Professional Practice, New Knowledge, Innovations & Improvement, and Empirical Outcomes.
Reaching this height of becoming a Magnet recognized organization provides the Southwest Florida community the opportunity for healthcare delivered at the ultimate benchmark and gold standard. It is a tremendous honor to be on this journey and reflects our commitment to our nursing staff, the medical community, and most of all, our patients.
Examples of foundational elements to meet standards of the Magnet Model include: 
- Unit practice shared governance councils
- Culture of nursing excellence
- Nursing research and evidence-based practice
- Interprofessional collaboration
- Healthy work environment – Joy!
- Continual professional development
- Employee recognition, growth, and development
- Data on improved patient outcomes
Magnet Recognition
Magnet-recognized organizations demonstrate to the community the invaluable potential of nurses to lead healthcare change leading to improved patient outcomes. The Journey to Magnet designation creates a culture of investment and continual support in nursing education and development, interprofessional collaboration, and practice focused on mutual respect, autonomy, and shared values.
RN Engagement
The results of becoming a Magnet organization include higher nurse satisfaction (19% average increase) and engagement, with higher nurse retention (4.5% less turnover than industry average). Nine out of nine healthcare organizations in Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” are Magnet Recognized or have Magnet Facilities in their system. Also 45% of the top quartile for physician engagement were Magnet designated hospitals.
Patient Satisfaction
This means a higher standard of care for patients. All 20 of the Top 20 US News Best Hospitals Honor Roll are Magnet Recognized. There are 11 Magnet recognized hospitals within the Baldrige Performance Excellence Award for Healthcare. Lastly, Magnet hospitals outperform the non-magnet hospitals on patients “likelihood to recommend” top box scores (75.7 compared to 70.8).
Quality
With a higher standard of care, mortality rates decrease to 14% at Magnet hospitals. In the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, Magnet designation automatically earns full credit for Safe Practice #9 Nursing Workforce. Also the mean score for Magnet Facilities for “skill of the physician” was 93.2 while non-Magnet facilities was 92.1. Patients at Magnet facilities have shorter hospital stays, improved quality and safety, and decreased falls, infections, and hospital-acquired pressure ulcer rates. Learn how our system-wide quality safety initiatives are contributing towards the overall quality and zero harm mission that is a priority to Lee Health.
Learn More About Lee Health
Across all Lee Health locations, our nurses use a patient-centered care approach that supports the whole person — promoting physical, mental, and spiritual health. Click an image below to learn more about the exceptional nursing staff that are leaders in patient-centered care for Southwest Florida.
