Shared Governance What It Can Mean for Nurses (1 Hour)

I decided to take this class because it directly relates to nursing leadership. This class was just a basic overview of what shared governance means for nurses. The definition of shared governance is as follows, "Shared governance is an organizational model that provides a structure for shared decision-making among professionals about practice and clinical outcomes." There are four aspects to shared governance in the health care setting. These include practice, quality, learning and generating new knowledge. Shared governance allows nurses to develop their leadership potential because they become stakeholders under shared governance. Their work environment encourages the nurses to get involved and share ideas to make positive changes in their workplace. This course identified three ways that healthcare facilities could fail at shared governance.

1. Establishing shared governance only in a single department or an isolated “pilot” unit
2. Fostering competition rather than collaboration among units and disciplines
3. Tolerating nurse leadership at executive or middle management levels that fails to support shared governance

It's quite obvious why each of these scenarios could lead to failed shared governance. The course on the flip side identified three ways organizations can succeed at shared governance.

1. Engage frontline staff and leadership in creating a plan for a shared governance model and bylaws regarding nursing practice, quality and competence.
2. Build relationships to support shared governance at the unit level, including leadership and administrative relationships, interprofessional and interdisciplinary team members and collaboration and collegiality
3. Establish unit-level councils and bylaws based on the overall strategic plan for organizational shared governance.

By following these three rules, organizations can use shared governance and benefit from it. This course was a really informative course. I learned a lot about shared governance and it is something I would like to know more about. It seems to me, that shared governance is an excellent way to structure an organization and develop leadership skills in all employees.