Providence Holy Cross Medical Center received redesignation today as the Greater San Fernando Valley’s only Magnet Hospital, the nation’s highest recognition for  nursing excellence.

Nurse managers gathered this morning with the hospital leadership to hear the announcement via conference call from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, which weighs standards of patient care, nursing practice collaboration, patient outcomes and nursing research in selecting Magnet hospitals.

The crowd of about 100 cheered and threw confetti when the announcement was made. Nursing teams chosen for the four-year recognition represent the top 4 percent in the nation in terms of quality.

“We are elated, and extremely proud of our nurses and our ancillary and professional services that share in this honor,” said Chief Nursing Officer Ann Dechairo-Marino, PhD, RN, NEA-BC. “Magnet is a very rigorous and challenging process, but Providence Holy Cross nurses truly stand out not only for the excellent, compassionate care they provide our patients but for the way they work as a team to continuously set new standards of excellence, collaboration and delivery of care.”

In 2007, the 377-bed Providence Holy Cross was the first community hospital in Los Angeles County and the 11th in California to earn Magnet status. Today there are 29 Magnet Hospitals in the state. Signature services at Holy Cross include emergency and trauma care, cardiology, pulmonology, maternity, neonatal intensive care, orthopedics and oncology.

“Providence Holy Cross nurses are on a continuous journey to improve patient care,” said Chief Executive Bernard Klein, M.D. “They are dedicated, skilled, compassionate and innovative and take the art and science of nursing to a higher level. Magnet status lifts the bar for nurses and it attracts top quality physicians who expect the best for their patients.”

The ANCC’s Magnet Recognition Program provides consumers with the ultimate benchmark to measure the quality of care that they can expect to receive.  The program is based on quality standards of nursing practice as defined by the American Nurses Association, as well as evidence-based standards from other professional nursing associations..

The focus of Magnet is on transformational leadership throughout nursing services, structures that empower nurses to be involved in decisions regarding practice, equipment and design that can affect nursing practice, exemplary professional practice, patient care outcomes that are better than national and state benchmarks and research to advance bedside care.