Kathleen Wolf, MBA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC's career accomplishments have provided her a pathway well-suited for her current appointment as the Magnet Program/Nursing Quality Director at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Wolf has done it all: staff nurse, nursing director, and chief nursing officer, and for the past nine years, guiding Fox Chase’s nursing teams to their sixth consecutive Magnet destination in 2023.

When asked how Wolf prepares the nursing staff and the hospital to apply for a Magnet designation, she responds, “Fox Chase nurses live the Magnet philosophy of excellence in patient outcomes in their daily practice—it’s embedded in our culture. Nursing leadership effectively aligns our strategic priorities and goals to work with their teams and all leaders to continuously improve patient care outcomes.”

“Earning Magnet status once is a great honor, but to earn it six consecutive times truly speaks to the level of nursing care that Fox Chase offers its patients,” said Anna Rodriguez, MSN, MHA, RN, OCN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Nursing and Patient Services at Fox Chase. "I like to say to our nursing teams, "You make us Magnet—every single day."

“Over the years, Magnet has kept raising the bar for nursing excellence: for the 2023 award, there were rigorous standards to meet, requiring pages of evidentiary proof to substantiate the narrative examples presented,” explains Wolf. Magnet applicants are required to outperform national benchmarks on nurse-sensitive clinical quality indicators, patient experience, and registered nurse satisfaction, among other metrics.

“Our nursing staff lives the values that Magnet represents, each day. Preparing for a Magnet designation application demands the pursuit of excellence of every nurse at Fox Chase, and for that matter, the attention of every colleague in the organization,” says Wolf.   Magnet recognition status is awarded to the organization, not just to the nurses.

In 2023, when the Magnet appraisal team visited Fox Chase, they met with just under 500 people – nurses, doctors, administrators, and patients. The meetings and interviews were broad and extended from early morning to late afternoon. The appraisers’ on site goal is to clarify, verify, and amplify the examples submitted in the Magnet document.

As of 2000, Fox Chase was recognized as the first hospital in Pennsylvania, and the first specialty hospital in the United States to achieve Magnet designation, and that’s the way it’s been ever since – six Magnet awards later and now moving toward our seventh Magnet designation. “For us, living Magnet resembles breathing –you do it every day,” says Wolf.