Shared Goverance

[Ruffles 1]

What do you think about Shared Goverance in hospital settings? Has anyone attempted to try Shared Goverance at their hosptial? Does it work or is it just a way to keep nurses from forming unions?

[Wickeddiaz]

:hrnsmlys:

[Wickeddiaz]

We are starting at shared governance at our hospital. I live in Alberta Canada and you can not nurse in any of our acute care hospitals without belonging to the union. Our shared governance teams do not deal with issues that they do not have the authority to change outright. Rather they develop new processes and practices for those issues that they are the experts on.

As well our shared governance councils are not silo'd in their discipline but are all multidisiplinary teams and represent all levels of leadership both informal and formal. We have also made clear expectations that these councils are for solutions not problems. Anyone who brings a concern must be willing to share possible solutions and actively engage in the change.

We have a accronym for out councils it is META- mobilizing energy and taking action. We also strongly believe in nothing about you without you- this means that decisions about a group of people will never be made without them as part of the discussion and solution. As we strive to be patient centered the nothing about you without you pushed us to have patient advisors at the table. These groups have helped us make better decisions as a group.

We have used this to improve the engagement and highlight and support creative innovative solutions to our new healthcare enviroment.

I would love to hear what made your shared governace structure successful.

This is great! I am so glad that it is working for you. I hope that some of our nurses in the states will be more open to shared governance! Thanks for the great post!

[Wickeddiaz]

I think this is something that gets bandied about to make nurses feel like they have some degree of control regarding their work environments, when, in fact, they really don't. "We don't need a silly union. We've got shared governance."

(And the crowd goes "Oooh!")

Wow, I am really sorry that you feel like you have no control regarding your work environment. I have discussed this with nurses whom worked at places that have both shared governance and unions. They both deal with completely different parts of the work environment for the nurses.

[cdsga]

In reality we do have control of our profession, just very little in the workplace. We are employees of a bigger corporate business and we are a necessary part of the equation, If you read Tim Porter O'Grady's writings on the concept and how it has been utilized over the years since the inception, you can see how there are good and bad situations in the Shared Governance Models.

As with any concept, it's only as good as the people who interpret it and buy into the whole concept. There's more to managing people than a strategy for governance. Do you all see how scary it is for managers to relinquish power to underlings? Change the status quo? When you change the top down to a bottom up management style that has been ingrained for so long, you will come up against a wall sometimes.

Not to say it won't work, it just takes passionate leaders to have consistent energy and focus. When you are successful at implementing the concept and demonstrate the positives, it's difficult to maintain due to change in personnel, change in corporate direction/focus, and yearly goals. There's always a flux in these types of situations.

I believe in governance and a bottom up strategy because I have seen it work. But it takes alot of work and effort, and many nurses are not that energetic/passionate about it.

[OCNRN63, RN]

thank you for a positive reply to this question. I was so sad after reading some of the comments to this posting. Ideas such as shared governance take commitment and time. As nurses we really need to own our profession and this is a great way to achieve that. :w00t:

Ehm...some of us who replied have shared governance in our hospitals, and we can see it for what it is. I know I didn't just fall off the turnip truck.

[KeepingItRealEeyore]

shared governance is truly a joke where I work. The only people on it on my floor is the manager's minions. I view shared governance as a way to make nurses not be unionized. It is a slap in the face to the intelligence of nursing that the higher ups are thinking they are giving us nurses a voice, when in reality they are going to continue to do whatever they want.

[cdsga]

It's intent was good but the implementation of it is the real issue. Not all are willing to spend the money for staffing coverage, or use creative staffing patterns to allow council members to attend, and like I said, it won't be truly successful unless you have committed leaders who themselves believe in the governance structure.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

We are starting a SG committee. In fact, we had one meeting and a shorter one this week.

We also are unionized, so they aren't starting it up to keep the union away. How this will work is going to be interesting. I really hope it works. Currerently, most upper management does listen to us, so I really hope it stays that way.