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Five tips to get shared governance off the ground

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, January 17, 2006

In the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®, a professional practice model, such as shared governance, is a fundamental element to develop a structure that supports excellence, according to Tim Porter-O'Grady, EdD, RN, FAAN, senior partner of Tim Porter-O'Grady Associates, Inc., an international healthcare consulting firm in Atlanta. To help facilities that are newly implementing shared governance, Kim S. Hitchings, RN, MSN, manager of the Center for Professional Excellence and site director at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network of Allentown, PA, a designated organization since August 2002, suggests the following tips:

1. Create a template that helps guide unit-based shared governance councils. Doing so will streamline the practices and structure of such councils.
2. Allow unit members to decide how they want to exercise shared governance. Let them decide whether they want to form a practice or quality council.
3. Identify the key components that your organization believes its nurses are empowered to affect.
4. Hold staff accountable through annual performance reviews. For example, Lehigh Valley practices a pay-for-performance model in which salary increases for performance are based on definitive goals and outcomes-one of which is participation in the professional practice model.
5. Offer a facilitation workshop, if possible. By doing so, staff selected to act on unit councils will know what their role is and how to use the council.

Editor's note: The tip above is from HCPro's audioconference, Shared governance: How to create and sustain a culture of nurse empowerment. Visit www.hcmarketplace.com for more information.

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