The Wyoming Medical Center will resubmit its application for Magnet status sometime in the next few months, another step in the hospital's 3.5-year plight to receive this honor.

The hospital announced in November 2007 it would have to submit more data before the American Nurses Association made its decision about whether WMC merits Magnet status.

As the hospital was in the process of applying the first time, the American Nurses Association changed the standards of certification, according to Sandra Conklin, director of nursing services and Magnet coordinator.

She said the certification's focus changed from structure and processes to patient outcomes.

"We got caught in a window," Conklin said. "The appraiser said, 'We don't care much about the structure.' Why we didn't get it last fall was our outcomes didn't meet benchmarks."

However, she said these benchmarks were new standards.

The hospital did not meet benchmarks mainly for patient falls and pressure ulcers, or bed sores, Conklin said. Over the past year, the hospital has worked on these two areas.

Only about 250 of almost 6,000 hospitals across the country meet the high benchmarks and are certified as Magnet hospitals. The Magnet Recognition Program recognizes hospitals with quality patient care, excellence in nursing and innovations in professional nursing practice.

Other problems the hospital had during the first application included a shortage of nurses, its volume of associate's degree versus bachelor's degree nurses and the fact that the acting chief executive officer was also the chief nursing officer, said Cheryl Cawiezell, a nurse with 42 years of nursing experience.

These have been amended, according to Cawiezell. The hospital has a permanent CEO and CNO and is using less travelers, she said.

The hospital received a $250,000 grant from the Wyoming Department of Health to help with Magnet, Conklin said. The hospital is using most of the money to send nurses back to school for bachelor's or master's degrees, she said.

Currently, about 23 percent of the hospital's nurses have a bachelor's degree and Conklin wants to raise that number to about 35 percent.

Cawiezell said the hospital has made changes to help "the mature nurse" like herself by allowing shorter shifts and bringing in more nurses at high-volume times.

Not every nurse is on board with Magnet, Cawiezell said, but she said it must happen because health care and nursing are changing fast.

"Patients can go on the Internet and hospitals are rated," she said. "Patients are getting very astute with health care. They're shopping around."

The hospital wants to be the first hospital in Wyoming to achieve Magnet status. Even though the hospital will submit its documents in coming months, it will still take more than a year for the certification. The hospital has to complete a site visit also.

The work is worth it to Cawiezell. She said Magnet status was given its name because it draws in nurses, physicians and other staff.

"Nurses change jobs frequently now," Cawiezell said. "We want to use whatever 'magnetic' power we have to keep them here."

Contact health reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or allison.rupp@trib.com.