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Magnet4Europe Intervention to Improve Clinician and Patient Well-Being: A Quasi-Experimental Study of 56 Hospitals in 6 European Countries

Magnet4Europe Intervention to Improve Clinician and Patient Well-Being: A Quasi-Experimental Study of 56 Hospitals in 6 European Countries
Magnet4Europe Intervention to Improve Clinician and Patient Well-Being: A Quasi-Experimental Study of 56 Hospitals in 6 European Countries

BACKGROUND: Descriptive studies have documented high hospital nurse burnout and turnover but there are few, if any, large-scale evaluations of organizational interventions to improve clinician retention. The Magnet model is an organizational hospital intervention associated with better clinician and patient outcomes but there is insufficient evidence as to whether the Magnet model based on structural empowerment of clinicians results in better outcomes or rewards hospitals with good work environments, and whether the Magnet model can be implemented at scale outside the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether Magnet4Europe-a multiyear organizational intervention of European hospitals-could be implemented and would result in improvements in nurse well-being, care quality, and patient safety.

DESIGN: Quasi-experimental longitudinal evaluation of 56 European intervention hospitals in 6 countries. Hospital-level implementation of the intervention measured by changes (from baseline to follow-up) in 77 Magnet model intervention targets. Outcome measures (eg, nurse burnout, intent to leave, quality of care, patient safety) were derived from surveys of nurses (4546 nurses at baseline; 3171 at follow-up).

FINDINGS: Hospitals that implemented intervention targets during the study period observed reductions in nurse burnout, nurses' intentions to leave their jobs, and unfavorable care quality. Each 10-percentage-point increase in intervention target implementation was associated with 2.7%-point reduction in nurses who intend to leave (β -2.66; 95% CI: -4.74, -0.58, P<0.05). Hospitals which implemented more than 25% of intervention targets observed 6.3%-point reduction in nurse burnout, 7.6%-point reduction in intent to leave, 6.4%-point reduction in unfavorable care quality, and 3.7%-point reduction in unfavorable patient safety. Improvements in hospital percentages of nurses reporting staffing adequacy were associated with reductions in burnout, intentions to leave, unfavorable care quality, and patient safety.

CONCLUSION: Successful implementation of Magnet4Europe demonstrates promise for international adoption at scale of Magnet as an organizational intervention for improving clinician well-being, care quality, and patient safety.

Burnout, Professional/prevention & control, Europe, Female, Humans, Job Satisfaction, Longitudinal Studies, Models, Organizational, Nursing Staff, Hospital/psychology, Patient Safety, Personnel Turnover/statistics & numerical data, Quality of Health Care/organization & administration
0025-7079
50-58
Aiken, Linda H
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Sermeus, Walter
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Lasater, Karen B
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Busse, Reinhard
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McKee, Martin
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Smith, Herbert
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Drennan, Jonathan
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Maier, Claudia B
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Ball, Jane
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Dello, Simon
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Kohnen, Dorothea
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Lindqvist, Rikard
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Lerdal, Anners
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Griffiths, Peter
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Schaufeli, Wilmar B
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De Witte, Hans
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Eriksson, Lars E
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Rafferty, Anne Marie
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Köppen, Julia
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Smeds Alenius, Lisa
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McHugh, Matthew D
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Magnet4Europe Consortium
Aiken, Linda H
6110096b-bab9-41a7-89f4-d7043011d6d9
Sermeus, Walter
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Lasater, Karen B
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Busse, Reinhard
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McKee, Martin
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Smith, Herbert
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Drennan, Jonathan
dad7b3ad-8b7d-428b-8dea-ccb1d50819eb
Maier, Claudia B
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Ball, Jane
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Dello, Simon
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Kohnen, Dorothea
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Lindqvist, Rikard
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Lerdal, Anners
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Griffiths, Peter
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Schaufeli, Wilmar B
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De Witte, Hans
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Eriksson, Lars E
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Rafferty, Anne Marie
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Köppen, Julia
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Smeds Alenius, Lisa
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McHugh, Matthew D
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Magnet4Europe Consortium (2026) Magnet4Europe Intervention to Improve Clinician and Patient Well-Being: A Quasi-Experimental Study of 56 Hospitals in 6 European Countries. Medical Care, 64 (2), 50-58. (doi:10.1097/MLR.0000000000002257).

Record type: Article

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Descriptive studies have documented high hospital nurse burnout and turnover but there are few, if any, large-scale evaluations of organizational interventions to improve clinician retention. The Magnet model is an organizational hospital intervention associated with better clinician and patient outcomes but there is insufficient evidence as to whether the Magnet model based on structural empowerment of clinicians results in better outcomes or rewards hospitals with good work environments, and whether the Magnet model can be implemented at scale outside the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether Magnet4Europe-a multiyear organizational intervention of European hospitals-could be implemented and would result in improvements in nurse well-being, care quality, and patient safety.

DESIGN: Quasi-experimental longitudinal evaluation of 56 European intervention hospitals in 6 countries. Hospital-level implementation of the intervention measured by changes (from baseline to follow-up) in 77 Magnet model intervention targets. Outcome measures (eg, nurse burnout, intent to leave, quality of care, patient safety) were derived from surveys of nurses (4546 nurses at baseline; 3171 at follow-up).

FINDINGS: Hospitals that implemented intervention targets during the study period observed reductions in nurse burnout, nurses' intentions to leave their jobs, and unfavorable care quality. Each 10-percentage-point increase in intervention target implementation was associated with 2.7%-point reduction in nurses who intend to leave (β -2.66; 95% CI: -4.74, -0.58, P<0.05). Hospitals which implemented more than 25% of intervention targets observed 6.3%-point reduction in nurse burnout, 7.6%-point reduction in intent to leave, 6.4%-point reduction in unfavorable care quality, and 3.7%-point reduction in unfavorable patient safety. Improvements in hospital percentages of nurses reporting staffing adequacy were associated with reductions in burnout, intentions to leave, unfavorable care quality, and patient safety.

CONCLUSION: Successful implementation of Magnet4Europe demonstrates promise for international adoption at scale of Magnet as an organizational intervention for improving clinician well-being, care quality, and patient safety.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 22 December 2025
Published date: 1 February 2026
Additional Information: Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.
Keywords: Burnout, Professional/prevention & control, Europe, Female, Humans, Job Satisfaction, Longitudinal Studies, Models, Organizational, Nursing Staff, Hospital/psychology, Patient Safety, Personnel Turnover/statistics & numerical data, Quality of Health Care/organization & administration

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 508389
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/508389
ISSN: 0025-7079
PURE UUID: 89958a3a-bba3-4624-be28-886b54eb2c3b
ORCID for Jonathan Drennan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7365-4345
ORCID for Jane Ball: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8655-2994
ORCID for Peter Griffiths: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2439-2857

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Date deposited: 20 Jan 2026 17:51
Last modified: 21 Jan 2026 02:46

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Contributors

Author: Linda H Aiken
Author: Walter Sermeus
Author: Karen B Lasater
Author: Reinhard Busse
Author: Martin McKee
Author: Herbert Smith
Author: Claudia B Maier
Author: Jane Ball ORCID iD
Author: Simon Dello
Author: Dorothea Kohnen
Author: Rikard Lindqvist
Author: Anners Lerdal
Author: Peter Griffiths ORCID iD
Author: Wilmar B Schaufeli
Author: Hans De Witte
Author: Lars E Eriksson
Author: Anne Marie Rafferty
Author: Julia Köppen
Author: Lisa Smeds Alenius
Author: Matthew D McHugh
Corporate Author: Magnet4Europe Consortium

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