Do You Have a Voice?

[ERERER]

Do staff nurses in your facility have any input in policy making, clinical decisions, etc? In our hospital there is upper management, who get their information on problems on the units from managers. I have read of some hospitals using shared governance to solve problems and make policy. Here staff nurses are not even included in committees that discuss clinical issues and problems, and managers are not relaying accurate information.

How involved are staff nurses at your hospital in committee work, clinical issues? We are professionals, after all, and should have a say in how we conduct our profession.

[NurseCard, ADN]

At my hospital, nope, nurses don't really have much voice in making the big decisions... and I'm just the type of person that I kinda like it that way. I'm strictly one of those "do my job and then go home" kinds of nurses.

The last place that I worked was a hopeful "Magnet" facility, and we had the shared governance, the various committees, the clinical ladder, all of that. I pretty much got tired of feeling pressure to do a bunch of stuff outside of regular work, or else feel like a nobody.

[nursebrandie28, BSN, RN]

I disagree.... i think nurses should have shared goverenced...we work the floors, we should decide who and what goes on!!

[NurseCard, ADN]

Well yeah, I never said that shared governance necessarily SHOULDN'T exist, it just isn't something that I personally am interested in. Again, I'm happy just doing my job and getting out of there.

I work for a state owned facility, which has a lot to do with why my place doesn't have any kind of shared governance.

Mostly I was just answering the OP's question. No, staff nurses at my place don't have much of a voice but, for the time being, I'm happy with my job so it really doesn't bother me. I"m also very strongly one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" people.

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

In the hospital everyone got a chance to voice their opinions and we had many meetings that allowed us to do so, the problem was our opinions always fell on deaf ears. Either nothing changed or things were done as management wanted.

HH company # 1. The only opinion that mattered was the owner. No one ever got a say. Well.....I did when I left.

HH company # 2. They listen, they respond, and most of the time they do things the way the nurses prefer. That's why I now call myself Home Health Happy! Cheers!

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

I am currently working in a facility that is a magnet hopeful. I the 2 committees that I used to be on (I was made to be on these committees- it wasn't by choice), I quickly found that the only input I had was to collect data for those who actually made the policies. It was tedious work, and I felt used. I hated being on those committees. Now, if I actually had been asked for any input, it might have been different.

[styRN]

In our unionized facility it is mandated per our collective agreement that we are represented on many, if not most, facility committees, including fiscal advisory, occupational health and safety, infection control, pharmacy advisory, documentation, standards, ethics, the list goes on and on. We have a say in the development of policies and procedures and most facets of the facility's operation. We also have a number of our members that meet monthly with management to address our concerns, and this committee is a pro-active committee with a mandate for ensuring change to address all concerns.

We are not uncommon; in Ontario, this is the norm for members of the Ontario Nurses' Association.

Is it Valhalla? Not by a long shot, but do we have a voice? Dang right!

[SueBee RN-BSN]

Nurses do not have a voice, because they don't speek up. Nurses are treated without respect, because they let others treat them this way. The nursing profession is managed by doctors, and administration, because nurses let them. Patients are unsafe due to short staffing, because nurses let it happen. I could go on and on. Why don't you all get together and organize with your nursing associations? I don't mean a food service workers union, or a steel workers union, but a nursing union.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

We've got shared governance. Not a bit different from places that don't.

Basically they hear what we say, then ignore it for whatever reason.

[weirdRN, RN]

I understand the whole philosophy behind shared governance, but, I don't believe that it is really necessary. I believe that policy is set to satisfy the lawyers. Often Policy is way behind studies that validate Nursing practice. Policy is almost always either a true help or a true hinderance to the well informed nurse.

I think that Nurses should continue to be educated in nursing practice and in new technology so that the need for policy is esentially negated.

At this point in my carreer, I have been told half a dozen times or more already that I am "too new" to have a voice and that when I am senior enough to have a voice all I'll really want is for management to leave me alone. I say Pee on them stupid individuals who discount the fresh eyes of youth and inexperience, who really want to make a difference, but can't because they don't have enough experience.

[SueBee RN-BSN]

Where I live there is one "magnet hospital", and the nurses don't have kind things to say about the work environment. I called and spoke with a nurse recruiter who had all the magnet hospital buzz words down pat. What a crock of poop is all I coud think.

Hospitals cry about the high $$$ of nurse turnover, but they keep paying the bucks, not improving working conditions for nurses. They have pleanty of money.

Go figure!!

[ERERER]

so what is the answer? as professionals we should have input on how we conduct our profession. I personally resent all these "like it or leave it" memos that come down from above. i don't think that admin has a clue as to what is actually going on with patients. The mid level managers report to admin what they think they want to hear, not what actually is happening, to save their own hides. Do any of you have free access to the CEO/CNO?