The Gold Standard in Heart Care: How Magnet® Designation Makes a Difference

If you have a cardiac condition, you already know how important it is to find a specialist you can trust to care for you at every stage of your heart-health journey.

But your nursing team is a vital part of your care, too. Whether you are visiting for a heart check-up, undergoing cardiac rehabilitation or having bypass surgery, nurses play a critical role in ensuring you receive high-quality care. But how do you find excellent nurses? You can't connect with them by searching the internet for "great nurses near me."

But you can look for a heart program that makes nursing excellence a high priority. An academic health system like Emory Healthcare is dedicated to achieving the gold standard for nursing excellence: Magnet designation.

What Is Magnet Designation?

Magnet designation is the ultimate nursing credential. The Magnet recognition Program was established by the American Nurses Credentialing Center almost 30 years ago. It recognizes quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice.

The application process is thorough and time-consuming. Many organizations strive for Magnet designation but never achieve it.

Earning Magnet designation is proof of a rock-solid commitment to excellent health care. Emory Healthcare is the only health system in Georgia with four Magnet-designated hospitals and the state's first and only Magnet-designated ambulatory practice, Emory Clinic.

Our four Magnet-designated hospitals include:

• Emory Johns Creek Hospital
• Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital
• Emory University Hospital
• Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital

Magnet designation is a significant professional accomplishment for our nurses as well. In 2024, Emory Johns Creek Hospital heart failure coordinator, diabetes care and education specialist Anita Rich, DNP, was awarded the ANCC National Magnet Nurse of the Year® Award for Transformational Leadership.

With decades of nursing experience, Anita is also a senior clinical instructor at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. When not establishing and maintaining inpatient and outpatient heart failure services for Emory Johns Creek Hospital or instructing at Emory University, Anita is president of Nurses Heart to Heart, a nonprofit she founded in 2010.

Anita was one of five Magnet Nurse of the Year awards, which demonstrates her commitment to upholding the nursing values that Emory continues to be recognized for.

Magnet Makes a Difference in Your Heart Care

Magnet designation tells you that Emory Healthcare creates an environment where nurses in every specialty can thrive. That’s certainly true in cardiac medicine. Throughout the health system, our heart nurses care for patients with expert knowledge and sensitivity, whether helping them manage a chronic condition like heart failure or coordinating their care before or after surgery. Our heart nurses:

• Work with physicians and other health professionals to provide high-quality patient care.
• Educate patients about their condition and treatment.
• Help design new care models.
• Lead quality improvement teams.
• Participate in cardiac research.
• Use the latest technology and patient care practices to help you heal.
  
  

Ready To Transform Your Heart Health?

If you need heart care, turn to experts at the top of their field. Emory Heart & Vascular brings together more than 150 physicians and 18 specialized programs in cardiology, cardiac surgery and vascular surgery.

Next-day new patient cardiology appointments are available at one of our 23 locations.

Visit www.emoryhealthcare.org/takecontrol to learn more and schedule an appointment.