Shared Governance in the Healthcare Sector: Pros and Cons

“In spite of the failure of shared governance to “take” at some hospitals, and its demise at others as fallout from takeovers, makeovers, participation fatigue of administrators, and staff nurses weary of meetings, there’s hardly a poor note amongst correct believers.” (Hess, 2014.) Nursing shared governance is a quite beneficial resource and tool in the Healthcare atmosphere. Not only does shared governance and the nursing council model empower the nurses of an organization, but it also enables work to flow effectively, and choices to be produced proactively. This paper will discuss the organizational structure of nursing shared governance.

The way in which nursing shared governance is structured is extremely essential. There are different councils that have a sole purpose and are centered on the requirements of the hospital or company in which they function. For illustrative purposes, we will name five unit councils. There can be as several or as couple of councils as meet the needs of any organization. The different councils as displayed in the figure below are “Practice”, “Quality,” “Education,” “Management,” and “Coordinating”. The central operations council is where all the suggestions, issues and details come collectively so that it can be dispersed to all the folks affected, and issues can be addressed.

Unit councils are able to make choices at their unit level, and they are portion of the other shared governance councils. The concerns addressed by the different councils will be concerns that directly pertain to their experience and designation. For instance, the need to have for continuing education and instruction would be addressed by the Education unit or committee. The coordinating of schedules or activities may possibly be taken on by the coordinating committee, though it would ideally also have input from the management committee. The committees are capable to operate independently, but are also in a position to coordinate with the other committees with all details and decisions becoming issued to the operations council. “Shared governance is an organizational model by means of which nurses manage their practice as properly as influence administrative places.” (Hess, 2014.)

The councils operate significantly like the Government in that they have specific committees or councils that determine and perform on distinct processes. The nurses take their concerns, or queries to a particular committee and are also provided the opportunity to serve on designated committees. It is essentially a system by the nurses for the nurses. Final approvals are made at a senior employees or management level. The chair and Co-chair have final say inside the councils. Based on the concern a employees member has, they can go to the committee or council that the said issue falls below. Shared governance is an exceptional way to increase morale and productivity. Not only are the nurses greater in a position to voice their concerns, but they also have a say in how their designated departments are run, and how they practice their talent sets and care.