Jocelyn Love was a newly graduated nurse when she witnessed her patient receiving her new breast cancer diagnosis. The patient had a young child, and the room had been especially tense.
Love said, “I remember feeling so sad. I actually cried. I had to step out of the room.”
However, she felt that she had to go back. “To just go back in there and be that strength for her, even for just a moment in the eight-hour shift, to show compassion, to show love, to show understanding.” Love’s story is just one of many given by nurses across Washington Health.
Under the mission to be a trusted place where people can receive the best possible care, the hospital has recently received the Magnet Recognition, the highest and most prestigious institutional honor for nursing excellence, for the third time in a decade.
The award is given to less than 10% of hospitals across the country and affirms a hospital’s commitment to high-quality patient outcomes, nurse-led decision-making and continuous professional development.
Terri Hunter, vice president and chief nursing officer at Washington Health, said the designation reflects both the hospital’s structure and its culture. Magnet organizations have been shown through research to have higher quality care, lower turnover rates and higher job satisfaction.
“We create a culture where decision-making happens at every level, from the bedside to the boardroom,” said Hunter.
“Washington is very special because it’s a community hospital, and we treat each other like family,” she said. “We probably have the most diverse culture, not just among our nurses, but throughout the whole system and community.”
That culture was tested during the Covid-19 pandemic, when hospitals nationwide faced staffing shortages, overwhelming patient loads and emotional strain on healthcare workers.
“Maintaining the level of excellence required for Magnet recognition during the Covid-19 pandemic was truly remarkable,” Hunter said. “It really showed the resilience and strength of the nursing culture here at Washington.”
Even through those challenges, Hunter said nurses continued to stay and grow within the system because of its emphasis on professional development and clinical excellence.
“The nurses who come here stay here because they want to practice at a high level,” she said. “They want to work in a place committed to excellence.” At the center of that system, she said, is the patient.
“I’m serving my community members—people that I go to church with, my neighbors, people from my kids’ schools,” Love said. “I’m constantly refueled by the love of the patients and their stories.”
Hunter said, “I am incredibly proud to be here. It’s a blessing to work alongside the level of leadership and bedside nurses that we have at Washington.”
