Insights and Issues

THE MAGNET hospital concept is more than 20 years old and has certainly undergone remarkable changes during that period of time. For most members of our profession, this longevity is a total unknown, and many often express interest in the history that led to today’s strong and thriving program. Not surprisingly, it all began with a shortage. In the early 1980s, the American Academy of Nursing appointed a task force on hospital nursing practice out of concern for the numerous workforce issues that the profession was facing at that time. They recognized that acute care facilities, in particular, were experiencing serious problems in their ability to attract and retain registered nurses and they understood that any effort that might make a substantial impact on the shortage would need to deal with the situations specifically within inpatient facilities. The task force also recognized early on that there was already a substantial amount of publicity in the lay and professional press, addressing the problems that nurses faced in their day-to-day practice. In fact, not unlike today,