KAISER PERMANENTE VALLEJO ACHIEVES HIGHLY-

Sought After National Recognition

Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center is being recognized nationally for its nursing excellence and providing patients with exceptional care by receiving the highly-sought after American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Recognition® .

Kaiser Permanente Vallejo is the first Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospital to receive this prestigious designation. Less than 10% of hospitals in the United States have earned Magnet Recognition, considered the gold standard for nursing excellence, quality care, and innovations in nursing practice.

To achieve Magnet Recognition, Kaiser Permanente Vallejo demonstrated nursing excellence by outperforming national benchmarks in the areas of quality, safety, care experience, and nursing engagement; a set of rigorous criteria created by the ANCC. The designation is renewed every 4 years. The designation reaffirms Kaiser Permanente’s ongoing commitment to the work underway at its Northern California hospitals to consistently deliver superior patient care and outcomes, demonstrate professional growth opportunities and recognition of nurses, support nurse retention, and attract and retain outstanding professional talent. Achieving the prestigious designation required the participation of all nurses at the hospital and interdisciplinary team members.

“Magnet Recognition really is a designation of hospital excellence, specifically around nursing, ” said Kaiser Permanente Vallejo’s Chief Nursing Executive Juanita Jularbal-Walton, RN. “All of our front-line nurses had to be involved and really engaged in the work. ”

WHAT THIS HAS MEANT TO FRONT-LINE NURSES

The Magnet journey at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo started in 2019, and even continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 200 nurses involved.

Nestle “Twinkle” Vitug, RN, a medical surgical nurse at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo, said because the front-line nurses were directly involved with the application to become a Magnet recognized hospital, she not only saw professional growth in herself but also in her colleagues.

Ultimately, she believes this designation has resulted in a better care experience for members and patients.

“I didn’t really even know that this would have such an impact on all of us, ” she said.

Through a continued focus on nurse recognition, training, and professional development, Kaiser Permanente Vallejo demonstrated its commitment to meeting Magnet criteria. During the 4 years of preparation, the number of medical center nurses who advanced to bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees in nursing rose from 25% in 2019 to 81% in 2022.

It Takes A Community Effort To Receive Designation

As part of the process for the designation, a three-day site visit was conducted in mid-May at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo. Not only were nurses involved but also hospital leaders, physicians, and community and business representatives.

Beyond the exceptional work taking place inside the hospital, the surveyors also recognized Kaiser Permanente Vallejo’s commitment to the community and the work the hospital does in Napa and Solano counties from helping with housing assistance to addressing food insecurity.

“Magnet Recognition provides patients and their families with a benchmark by which to measure the quality of care they can expect to receive, ” said Darryl Curry, senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser Permanente’s NapaSolano service area. “We have reached this moment through our long history of excellence within the medical center combined with our dedication and pride in serving the community. ”

KAISER PERMANENTE HAS AWARDED THE SOLANO ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS FOUNDATION

$25,000 $25,000