WASHINGTON — MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital, the specialty hospital where patients from across the region recover from stroke, spinal cord and brain injuries, has earned its first Magnet designation for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, MedStar Health announced Monday.
The hospital was honored at the ANCC’s National Magnet and Pathway Conference in late October. It becomes the ninth MedStar Health hospital to hold the credential since 2004 and joins fewer than 1% of U.S. rehabilitation hospitals that have earned it, according to the health system.
For Southern Maryland, the list of Magnet hospitals in the MedStar system now runs from Leonardtown to the District. MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital earned its first Magnet designation on May 20, 2024, becoming the fifth MedStar hospital recognized at the time. MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center in Clinton is not among the nine.
What Magnet measures
The ANCC Magnet Recognition Program is a multi-year review that requires extensive written evidence on nursing practice and outcomes, validation of organizational performance and an on-site appraisal. Roughly 10% of U.S. hospitals hold the designation, which MedStar describes as the profession’s “gold standard” for nursing organizations. It is awarded for four years, after which a hospital must reapply and document that performance has been sustained.
During its review, MedStar NRH received six exemplars, the ANCC’s term for areas of performance that exceeded program standards. The health system did not list which areas were cited.
“This achievement reflects the dedication of our nurses and the collaborative spirit of our entire organization,” said Adrienne Sarnecki, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services and chief nursing officer. John Rockwood, the hospital’s president and a MedStar Health senior vice president, said nurses “form lasting relationships with patients and families during challenging stages of recovery,” and credited them with helping patients “return to life beyond the hospital.”
Rehabilitation nursing differs from acute-care nursing in that patients typically stay for weeks rather than days and nurses work in interdisciplinary teams with physical, occupational and speech therapists on regaining function and independence. The low share of rehabilitation hospitals holding Magnet status reflects both the small number of such hospitals nationally and the program’s outcome-reporting requirements.
The MedStar list
With MedStar NRH, the system’s Magnet-designated hospitals are:
- MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, Baltimore
- MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington
- MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital, Baltimore
- MedStar Harbor Hospital, Baltimore
- MedStar Montgomery Medical Center, Olney
- MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital, Washington
- MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown
- MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore
- MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington
MedStar St. Mary’s, which named a new chief nursing officer a year ago, will face its own redesignation review in 2028 under the four-year cycle. MedStar NRH’s designation runs through 2030.
