I began in January of this year with
twenty other nurses to begin to implement a shared governance model into all
the hospitals owned by our company. The process has been very challenging
because, we are trying to standardize all twelve hospitals as well as create a
governance model that all the hospitals participate in. This process has been one of the most
challenging aspects of my career. I have had rough days on the floor, but
nothing like this.
Shared governance purpose is to allow nurse’s to have more
autonomy over their own practice
(McEwen & Wills, 2011). The model that we created has what we call as
collaborative for each area of the hospital. These self direct work teams guide
practice by researching evidence biased measures particular to their work
environment that may improve care (McEwen & Wills, 2011). The leadership collaborative reviews the
ideas and a vote takes place with the leadership and the unit. If there is a
sixty percent agreement it is put into practice. Our shared governance model is a combination
between a councilor model and a congressional model (McEwen & Wills, 2011)
A congressional model of shared governance allows nurses to vote
on issues (McEwen & Wills, 2011). A councilor model uses subcommittees of
managers and staff. The subcommittees make the needs of the units known to
leadership, were decisions are made about process changes (McEwen & Wills,
2011). Most shared governance models are councilor models. We are one of the
first organizations trying to combine twelve hospitals. So it was necessary to
combine the councilor model and congressional model for fairness to all the
hospitals.
I have been working with many nurses with advance practice
degrees. I have learned a great deal about applying evidence based practice to
care. Until I took this class I did not understand that I was also helping in
practicing nursing theory. Thank you for your great post.
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