Developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), Magnet(R) is the leading source of successful nursing practices and strategies worldwide. The ANCC National Magnet Nurse of the Year(R) awards were created in 2010 to recognize the contributions of clinical nurses for innovation, consultation, leadership, and professional risk taking. Awards are presented in each of the Magnet Model(R) components: Transformational Leadership; Structural Empowerment; Exemplary Professional Practice; New Knowledge, Innovations, and Improvements; and Empirical Outcomes. The 2017 award winners were recognized at the ANCC National Magnet Conference(R) in Houston, Texas. This year's recipients are the following:
Transformational Leadership: Mary Dixon Still, MSN, RN, ANP-BC, ACNS, CCRN, FCCM
Still, a clinical nurse specialist, works for Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Still has been recognized for her leadership in sepsis mortality reduction, continuous renal replacement therapy, and a Molecular Absorbent Recirculating System. Through research, persistence, and new technologies, Still has created various policies and protocols that have decreased mortality rates and shortened the average length of patients' hospital stay.
Structural Empowerment: John F. Shepard, BSN, RN, CCRN
Shepard is an RN Senior Partner with Indiana University Health-Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. He has created a reputation of advocating for patients and peers through endorsing a culture that promotes safe work practices. Recognizing the risk of his own professional burnout, Shepard implemented nursing mindfulness meditation sessions. These sessions focus on topics such as intention, compassion, and gratitude and have already demonstrated a positive impact on the hospital's Healthy Work Environment initiative.
Exemplary Professional Practice: Susan Gold, BSN, RN, ACRN
Gold works as a nurse clinician at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics (UW) in Madison. Throughout her career, Gold has made both a local and global impact. A 25-year veteran at UW, Gold has been in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) clinic for the past 8 years. Since 2003, Gold has also been traveling to Africa to treat HIV orphans and educate caregivers. She is the 1st clinical nurse to be awarded both a Fulbright scholarship and a Nelson Mandela fellowship.
New Knowledge, Innovations, and Improvements: Laurie McNichol, MSN, RN, CNS, GNP, CWOCN, CWON-AP, FAAN
McNichol is a clinical nurse specialist/wound ostomy continence nurse with Cone Health-Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 2012, McNichol convened a consensus conference, consisting of 20 representatives from various nurse specialties, to discuss findings linking skin damage to medical adhesives. After recognizing this as a widespread issue, McNichol coined the term medical adhesive-related skin injury (MARSI). Defining MARSI led to research pertaining to how adhesives perform on patients and altered practice to improve the patient experience. McNichol is well published and is a coeditor of a textbook; she has given presentations and keynote addresses across 6 continents.
Empirical Outcomes: Melanie Roberts, DNP, RN-BC, CNS, CCNS, CCRN
Roberts works for the University of Colorado Health, Medical Center of the Rockies and Poudre Valley Hospital (UC Health) as a critical care clinical nurse specialist. A pursuit to improve quality of care and reduce mortality rates for cardiovascular surgical patients led Roberts to initiate guidelines for Cardiac Surgery Advanced Life Support (CALS). Implementation of CALS focuses on avoiding cardiac arrest in postoperative patients. As a result of these guidelines, UC Health has noted that 100% of those who had the CALS interventions and averted arrest survived. Roberts' work has resulted in significant decreases in the number of patients needing chest compressions and therefore fewer injuries.