Get ready to celebrate! Magnet site visit season is about to begin at YNHHS
Published October 09, 2025
In September, nurses with Yale New Haven Health’s Magnet program played the roles of Magnet appraisers during mock site visits to inpatient units and ambulatory sites throughout Bridgeport Hospital. The mock visits will help nurses such as these, on the Milford Campus ICU, prepare for a real site visit Oct. 22 - 24.
The words “celebrate” and “site visit” don’t often appear in the same sentence, but when it comes to a Magnet hospital site visit, they go hand in hand.
For the first time at Yale New Haven Health, three hospitals – Bridgeport, Greenwich and Yale New Haven – are actively pursuing a first Magnet designation or redesignation. Lawrence + Memorial and Westerly hospitals are in the early phases of the journey to Magnet.
From Oct. 22-24, three appraisers will visit Bridgeport Hospital on behalf of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the credentialing body for the Magnet Recognition Program. Magnet is the most prestigious distinction a healthcare organization can receive for nursing excellence and quality patient outcomes. Only around 635 organizations worldwide have earned Magnet designation, which lasts four years.
Danielle Jimenez, RN, Magnet Program coordinator, Yale New Haven Health Center for Nursing Excellence, has been leading Bridgeport Hospital’s pursuit of its first Magnet recognition.
“A Magnet site visit is completely different from a regulatory agency visit,” she told a group from Nursing and other Bridgeport Hospital departments during a Sept. 9 virtual town hall. “The Magnet visit doesn’t focus on what you’re not doing, it’s about what you’re doing well. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the excellent work we all do.”
Yale New Haven Hospital’s site visit is scheduled for Dec. 8 - 12 with four ANCC appraisers. The hospital is seeking its fourth Magnet recognition. Greenwich Hospital submitted the application for its third Magnet recognition in August; the ANCC is currently reviewing the document.
During a site visit, Magnet appraisers, who come from healthcare or academic organizations throughout the U.S., will spend most of their time interacting with clinical nurses, but will also connect with organization leaders, physicians, staff from non-nursing departments and other healthcare professionals.
“There’s a big focus on interdisciplinary care,” Mary Christoffersen, RN, DNP, Bridgeport Hospital chief nursing officer, told the town hall audience, which included representatives from a variety of roles and departments.
To prepare nurses and other hospital staff for upcoming site visits, Center for Nursing Excellence Magnet coordinators have created guides with information on topics appraisers might ask about. Preparations also include mock site visits with nursing staff.
One of the best ways to get ready for the site visit, Jimenez said, is to “think about what you are most proud of – whether it’s your team, a project you worked on, a patient story” and be ready to share it with the Magnet appraisers.
In other words, contrary to what you might have been told as a child, it’s OK to brag. In fact, it’s encouraged.
“The Magnet site visit is all about pride,” Christoffersen told the diverse group at the town hall, adding, “It took everybody sitting here to get us to this point, and I couldn’t be more proud.”
Nursing staff on the Bridgeport Hospital Milford Campus East 3 Orthopedics unit showed off their Nursing Professional Practice Board during the mock Magnet site visit. During the actual visit, clinical nurses and other staff members will be asked to highlight their own and their unit’s or department’s accomplishments.
