Yale New Haven Hospital wins 2024 ANCC Magnet Prize sponsored by Press Ganey

New Haven, CT (October 31, 2024) – Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) has received the 2024 American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Prize, sponsored by Press Ganey. The award was presented during the 2024 ANCC National Magnet Conference and ANCC Pathway to Excellence Conference in New Orleans.

The ANCC Magnet Prize is presented to a Magnet designated organization whose care delivery team initiative best represents exemplary achievements in patient care services, including initiatives in healthcare delivery and research leading to innovations that result in positive outcomes. Yale New Haven Hospital will use the $125,000 prize to further develop its innovative project – a novel inpatient psychiatric experience tool, the Psychiatric Inpatient Experience (PIX) survey.

“Congratulations to Yale New Haven Hospital on receiving the 2024 ANCC Magnet Prize!” said Jeff Doucette, DNP, RN, chief nursing officer at Press Ganey. “This award represents a true team effort and a steadfast commitment to delivering comprehensive care. Press Ganey is proud to sponsor this award and celebrate the PIX survey, which creatively leverages survey data to provide a tangible pathway to improved psychiatric care. This innovative approach to patient experience measurement is yet another example of the transformative impact nursing can have on health care.”

PIX is a reliable inpatient psychiatric experience instrument that assesses care across four domains: nursing presence, healing environment, treatment team relationship and treatment effectiveness. Developed with nurse-led interdisciplinary input and patient feedback, it was validated with over 2,400 responses. The initiative gives voice to this often-overlooked patient population and enables nurses to evaluate how well they deliver empathetic, therapeutic care and identify areas for improvement. The survey has been formally adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) quality program as a national quality measure for participating psychiatric facilities beginning in 2026.

“Yale New Haven Hospital is honored to be the recipient of the 2024 Magnet prize,” said Ena Williams, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president for Yale New Haven Hospital. “The development of this innovative psychiatric patient experience tool demonstrates the power of nurses’ collaboration with interprofessional teams to reimagine care for psychiatric patients. This innovation has already had a significant organizational impact by providing us with meaningful data to address population-specific needs. Future adoption of this tool at the national level can inspire an improved patient experience for psychiatry patients across the country.”

In researching existing tools to measure patients’ experiences, staff at Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital (YNHPH) discovered a wide variation in how behavioral health organizations gather data, and a general lack of consensus around an accurate survey tool, so they decided to create their own. The team that developed the tool was comprised of researchers and clinicians from Psychiatry, Psychology, Nursing, Social Work and Occupational Therapy. In 2026, the survey will be required for use in more than 1,600 inpatient behavioral health facilities nationwide that participate in the CMS Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting Program.

This began as a multi-disciplinary process that put Yale New Haven Psychiatric patients at the center of the efforts. By including the patient’s relationship with the treatment team, the healing environment and nursing presence, the effectiveness of the treatment and how specifically YNHPH can educate and empower the patient to take control of their illness.

“The adoption of our survey is a well-deserved recognition of the hard work of many people at Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital,” said Mark Sevilla, DNP, RN, vice president, Behavioral Health and Emergency Services, YNHH. “We are proud of the fact that what began as a local effort to improve the care we provide to our patients has become a national standard. We are also pleased that behavioral health patients and clinicians now have an evidence-based tool to guide them in providing the highest-quality, patient-centered care.”

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org