Equality and Quality: The Relationship Between Magnet^® Status and Healthcare Organizational Commitment to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Equality

Abstract

Introduction: Discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) persons in the healthcare system is pervasive. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) conducts a major study annually in which participating healthcare organizations (n = 626) are scored on their treatment of LGBTQ employees and clients published as its Healthcare Equality Index. Higher scores earned on the HEI correspond to more equitable treatment of LGBTQ persons, a mark of distinction. Similarly, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) recognizes nursing excellence in healthcare organizations by designating them as Magnet institutions (n = 477), indicating alignment of the organization’s nursing strategic goals with improvement in patient outcomes.

Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted to determine if a relationship existed between an organization’s HEI score and ANCC Magnet recognition.

Results: Results supported a statistically significant association between HEI score and Magnet® status (p = .0336).

Discussion: Nurses, social workers, and other healthcare professionals should advocate for LGBTQ clients and colleagues and contribute to LGBTQ-related research, which is needed to enhance care delivery to LGBTQ persons across professions. Future research should focus on health outcomes resulting from interprofessional collaborations aimed at improving LGBTQ care and strategies to reduce discrimination against LGBTQ clients and employees.

Keywords:

• Discrimination
• Healthcare Equality Index
• LGBTQ
• nursing
• Magnet
• social work

Acknowledgments

Certain data used for this research has been provided by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) and used with permission. Future requests for the data should be directed to HRCF. The authors would like to extend their gratitude to HRCF for its collaboration and partnership on this project and to University of XX Librarian XXX for his extensive assistance in helping with the literature review for this article.