Centra Lynchburg General Hospital and Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital are among the 289 Magnet hospitals in the United States out of more than 6,000 hospitals nationwide. It takes a facility that maintains an extraordinary level of care and quality to obtain this high honor.  This is the highest national recognition for excellent nursing practice in hospitals.

Why do you want a Magnet nurse?

• Top-quality nursing care for patients
• Highest quality professional nursing practice
• Excellence in management philosophy
• Always improving quality of patient care
• Attentive to cultural and ethnic diversity
• Caring and professional attitudes toward patients and families

Magnet designation tells patients and families how caring and professional the nurses are.

Magnet helps attract and retain the highest quality nurses, as well.  Nurses recognize the opportunities and excellence present in a Magnet hospital.

As a new graduate, I was looking for a hospital that would help me make the transition from student to nurse and help me reach my full potential.  All the things I was advised by other nurses to look for in a hospital were listed here as qualities that Centra possessed a Magnet facility.
Andrea N. Harris, RN, Centra 

It also helps patients and families locate healthcare facilities with a demonstrated level of quality. This trend continues into the medical community.  Research has proven that hospitals with high quality nurses attract high quality physicians.

Magnet means a commitment to nursing excellence, professionalism, quality, service, and team work.  Hospitals that apply for Magnet designation realize the importance of nursing as a cornerstone of the delivery of quality health care.  Those select hospitals that achieve Magnet designation not only aspire to these commitments but have achieved them.  Magnet hospitals have pledged themselves to continuous quality improvement in nursing professionalism and in the delivery of health care.
Thomas Nygaard, M.D., Director of Cardiovscular Medicine, Centra

Magnet hospitals have created an environment that focuses on professional autonomy, professional education, career development, and nursing leadership, among many other areas of high quality work environments.

Finally, it is proven that patient satisfaction is higher at Magnet facilities than non-Magnet facilities.