I should preface any reflections about my first year as a Magnet® Program Director (MPD) by sharing that, before earning my nursing degree, I graduated with a degree in musical theatre. I’m beyond lucky that nursing and I found each other; after all, one can say it runs in my family. I realized quickly in those early days of nursing school that we control the size of the line between art and science. Like Florence Nightingale, we blend art and science in how we solve problems to ultimately benefit our patients and our teams. Nurses must be creative and think quickly, much like actors, when meeting and taking care of our patients. We also need to understand that similar to actors on a stage in the round, we also perform in the round. We’re continually observed, and we role model healthy behaviors for our audiences.

Why I wanted to be an MPD

After years at the bedside in a surgical stepdown unit and a post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), I transitioned to a formal leadership role as a PACU nurse manager in a collective bargaining environment. Once again, thinking creatively proved crucial to finding common ground and ensuring continuous improvement and innovation remained a shared team goal to better serve our patients and our colleagues. After several years in various formal leadership roles in and out of nursing, I realized I needed to get back to a true nursing role where I could think like a nurse and effectively support and celebrate my colleagues.

Which leads me to one of the many reasons I applied to be an MPD: an opportunity to shine a light on all the wonderful things that happen in my organization. As an actor, I love the spotlight, but as an MPD, I stand behind the metaphorical lighting booth to ensure that the nurses I have the pleasure to work with shine as brightly as they can.

What I learned in year 1

My first year as an MPD provided many learning opportunities. Maybe what I learned will help you if you decide to take on this role.

Memorizing isn’t necessary

During my first week in the MPD role, I thought I had to memorize the Magnet® Application Manual. I was so impressed by my mentors and colleagues who knew each source of evidence (SOE). When I mentioned something going on in the hospital, they cited how it would perfectly match a standard and quoted the manual from memory. They left me impressed and overwhelmed. So, I went home and made flashcards. I spent hours color coding and memorizing. To be an effective MPD, I thought I had to be on the same level as my mentors and colleagues in my understanding and command of the material within my first few weeks. How wrong I was.

Knowing the examples of excellence helps me effectively map out how to connect all of the wonderful work the nurses are doing with Magnet components, but that comes with time and regularly referring to the manual. Maybe the flashcards helped me achieve a high-level overview of what I needed to prepare in the Magnet® application document, but I didn’t need to memorize each SOE’s definition.

I take the manual everywhere I go (if I know I can protect my spiral-bound teal “baby” appropriately). That way I can determine if what I’m learning on a unit or in a meeting fits somewhere in our application document.

Now I can call out many of the SOEs and their major components by memory, but that skill certainly isn’t a job requirement. And guess what? The manual changes every few years. Like so many other things in our lives, the best way of knowing something is by actually doing it. Those flashcards are still in my desk drawer. They make me smile.

In pursuit of excellence and technical writing

Early on in my first year as an MPD, I took the “In Pursuit of Excellence: Magnet® Program Guidance” education course sponsored and delivered by ANCC’s Magnet Program Office. The class takes a deep dive into one SOE at a time and breaks down the key elements necessary to becoming a successful Magnet application writer. The Magnet Program Office guides dozens of MPDs at a time through the course and somehow makes sense of a very technical and detail-focused writing process. They also review any updates to the manual.

Magnet writers must diligently include all details as outlined in the application manual (dates, graphs, and narratives must all match perfectly). I took the class early in my first year and didn’t fully comprehend the details reviewed by the experts. I recommend that all MPDs take the class more than once, especially if you’re new to the role.

The MPD role requires highly technical writing, which to me sometimes felt overwhelming. I had helped craft stories for a few different nursing organizations while in other leadership roles, but now I’m responsible for all SOEs and the success of the entire application document—a daunting prospect, even for someone who loves writing. I delayed writing for a few months out of fear that I didn’t know enough and didn’t fully grasp what I needed for a successful SOE. Waiting was a mistake.

When I finally stopped procrastinating, I created drafts and sent them to my leader and mentors for feedback. Receiving this feedback helped me understand how to avoid minor or major pitfalls when writing an SOE. Over time I wrote more efficiently. I wish I’d started writing sooner. Beginning the writing process earlier would have helped alleviate anxiety about meeting deadlines.

As I learn more about the writing process, I become more comfortable with this aspect of the MPD role. Slowly but surely, I’m finding my own writing style, which fits the Magnet framework for inclusion of necessary and technical components while following the guidance of my mentors.

Mentorship

Similar to other nursing roles, mentorship can aid MPD success. I’m lucky to work in an organization among an extremely robust pool of established nursing leaders with various degrees of Magnet experience.

Early on in my first year as an MPD, I was formally assigned to work and learn with two mentors. I prefer a casual approach to mentorship, which allows me the flexibility to ask questions as they arise rather than attending set meetings with a mentor. The rigidity of a set calendar invite and agenda takes away from the personal and emotional aspect of mentorship that I find rewarding and necessary. Perhaps it’s the actor/musician/dancer in me, but even as an MPD, I primarily need emotional support. I want to ask for that support as I need it rather than waiting for a monthly mentor check-in. As I balanced the writing, professional governance, nurse engagement, and all the other aspects of the MPD role, I needed to be able to “phone a friend” in the moment.

I quickly found a mentor I could call at the drop of a hat, which provided me with the emotional support to learn how to balance the many MPD responsibilities, while also maintaining the more formal support from my other mentor for the technical and high-level aspects of the role. After all, more is more, right?

Finding a mentor outside of your organization also can prove helpful. The nursing world is small, and the Magnet world even smaller. We’re all connected, so making friends at Magnet consortiums organized by regions or states allows for sharing information and learning best practices. The ANCC Magnet® Conference provides another avenue for networking and finding new and established mentors. Don’t be shy about asking questions and making new friends.

Embracing the role

Perhaps the hardest and best part of the MPD role is that no clear lines exist to tell you where it begins and ends. I’ve learned that MPDs must embrace our role as nursing culture champions. We’re nurse leaders and own all aspects of professional governance and have responsibility for many nursing activities within our organizations. This means that the role may at times feel nebulous and require both the artistic and logical sides of our brains.

I use the right-side of my brain when it comes to soft-skill nursing engagement. As an MPD, I must understand how to creatively and meaningfully work and communicate with other nurses. Creating a shared vision and purpose as it relates to nurse engagement is paramount for MPD success in driving improved nursing satisfaction. I also must rely on the left-side of my brain for analytical and organizational tasks related to driving outcomes, connecting engagement with quality metrics, and attending to details.

Soft skills come a little more naturally to me, perhaps because of my musical theatre training (or my Gemini personality), so I learned early on in my first year as an MPD that I have to grow the left side of my brain and take advantage of organizational tools and mentor advice. I now love spreadsheets, tracking tools, and timelines (even Gantt charts). I also love calendar time and event reminders, which help to keep me on task, and I have an insane number of organized folders in a cloud-based program to save and track my Magnet writing progress.

I’ve also learned (and am still learning) how to embrace Plan Bs. A project plan is great, but I continue to learn that I need to be flexible and look at the Magnet document as a puzzle that I must play with to ensure certain pieces fit. I remind myself to add more buffer time to project plans and ensure I allow for the inclusion of a backup document or idea as needed. Embracing a certain lack of organization and control can help along the way.

I still have many lessons to learn, and becoming an MPD has been a gift. Perhaps inspiring and highlighting nursing excellence serves as my small contribution to making the world a healthier, safer, and more positive place.

Peter Stoffan is a Magnet® Program Director at New York-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York City.

American Nurse Journal. 2024; 19(9). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ092436

Reference

American Nurses Credentialing Center. 2023 Magnet® Application Manual. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Credentialing Center; 2021

Key words: Nurse leader, authentic leadership, Magnet