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More nurses on health care organization governing boards



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Jun 18, 2009 10:04 AM

More nurses on health care organization governing boards

by NRSKarenRN Staff

From Nurse.com



California Boardrooms Awakening to Advantage of Nursing Perspective

Trustee boards at more health care organizations are bringing in nurse members due to the increased understanding of value of the nursing point of view. One expert says the small number of nurses on boards may be due to gender disparities and the perception of some leaders of nurses as a large component of the work force rather than skilled professionals with an a impact on the quality and cost of patient care.


Unexpected Discovery

One study that initially revealed the lack of nurse board members within hospitals was led by Lawrence Prybil, MA, PhD, professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. The 2005 study of 14 nonprofit general hospitals found that only four of the 203 voting board members in the hospitals, or 2%, were nurses. Prybil was surprised when the data revealed such a low percentage.

“When you consider that approximately half of today’s hospital workforce are nurses, and how important nurses are in patient care and their impact on quality and cost, we thought there would be a stronger presence of nurse leaders on boards,” Prybil says.

Then in 2009, Prybil and his colleagues published a study of the structures, practices, and cultures of community health system boards. In that study, titled “Governance in High-Performing Community Health Systems,” the researchers collected survey data from 123 hospital systems throughout the country and found that the percentage of nurse board members was 2% — similar to the figure from the 2005 study.


See:
Journal of Nursing Care Quality:
January/March 2009 - Volume 24 - Issue 1 - p 5-9
Engaging Nurses in Governing Hospitals and Health Systems


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Old Jun 21, 2009, 01:50 PM

Default Re: More nurses on health care organization governing boards
What can I say? 'Bout time. Nurses have only been emphasizing our critical perspective in sound health care management decisions for about 200 years or so.
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