Shared Governance

Isnt shared governance a sweet idea

Shared Governance was a concept that started about 20 years ago. It was suppose to empower nurses and include them in the decision making. The organizational structure generally consists of four governance councils - Clinical Practice and Research, Education, Performance Improvement and Nursing Operations. Membership is composed of practicing nurses.

The problem with shared governance is that the hospitals just paid lip service to us. We had no real voice! We produced no real change!

Nurses have moved from Shared Governance to "Work Place Advocacy." In California we broke away from the ANA and preferred to utilize collective bargaining as our primary strategy for impacting the workplace. Hence, the first nurse/patient ratio bill in the country sponsored by the CNA.

ooooops.....sorry 'bout that fiesty nurse, but correction here...........

Not ALL RN's in California prefer to utilize collective bargaining as our primary strategy for impacting the workplace. In fact, many of us prefer to speak for ourselves and do so quite well. However, I will give you credit for advocating for better working conditions for nurses. This is something ALL of us should do no matter what group we belong to.

Shared governance works if nurses are willing to speak up in the appropriate arena and to the appropriate people rather than complaining in the break rooms and the hallways. They also need to speak with other nurses rather than union organizers. That would be a good first step. Be careful when speaking of nurses in California as we when you speak about breaking away because we means everyone as a group and all of us are definitely not in the same group as far as union activity goes.

Nurses DO have a voice. They just have to use it right. :wink2:

Music - Give me a break! When I said "we" I was referring to the California Nurses Association breaking away from the ANA. The ANA preferred not to use collective bargaining as a means for legislative change. I am well aware of the fact that not all nurses are unionized. You also have a strange view on what collective bargaining is all about - nurses do have a voice and "speak for themselves" and they do "speak with other nurses." It is nurses who sit at the bargaining table and negotiate written contracts for better pay and improved working conditions. I have 20 years of experience with shared governance and I see unionizing as a much better way to inact change. Shared Governance has not helped to pass any legislature - It is "Work Place Advocacy" at the State and Federal levels that has helped to pass nurse/patient ratios and no mandatory over time bills.

You have no "Governance" over anything. It's all a facade! Your still an employee of the hospital and they can listen to your little committee suggestions or not. It doesn't carry the power of a written union contract.

It's just like teeituptom said, "it's a sweet idea"

Whoa..........fiesty. I wasn't trying to get you mad. I was just making a point.

And you just made an important point very clear also.

I have yet to have a pro-union nurse speak to me in a professional manner about why I should join a union. You say that collective bargaining is nurses talking with nurses. The nurses who brought in the union at our hospital met in secret, didn't share their reasons with a great number of us, spoke in public in a very derogatory way about the place a large number of us love to work at and in general embarassed us in the manner in which they chose to do so. Now they want to know what we want them to bargain for in a contract if we get to that point. So you tell me who the professional is here. After seeing what we saw of how they went about it, many of us didn't want any part of whatever they were doing. So much for nurses talking with nurses. They didn't do their homework very well did they?

I have been a nurse for well over 20 years and have never felt the need for anyone to speak for me. I have taken advantage of the opportunities to speak and to participate in being part of the solution.....not the problem.

I have been on many committees that have effected great change and increased nurse satisfaction over the past years. It has also contributed to pay increases and the pay goes to the nurses and is not shared with a union in dues.

I applaud the efforts to introduce nurse patient ratios because we all know that patients need closer nursing supervision and nurses can not keep up the increasingly stressful pace they have been under. I respectfully suggest that the law as it is at present, does not have enough room for individual judgement according to circumstances and patient acuity and in some cases is too restrictive.

HOWEVER.................I have a great deal of respect for anyone who works as a professional nurse and I have been known for being very vocal and very supportive of ALL nurses. So, this is not in any way to put you down or to be argumentive.

With all due respect, I appreciate the fact that you feel this is a great thing but there are many nurses who don't feel the same. We all have to support each other and encourage each other regardless of our differences and through that maybe we can come to understand each other also.

Together, perhaps we can all come to some sound decisions for all of us.

If we can all get to that point, it will be a great thing.

:kiss

Respectfully,

music

You didn't get me "mad" - music. You have put me in to your stereotype of the angry, unprofessional union nurse, which I am not. The nurses that brought the union in to your hospital met in secret because they were scared of losing their jobs if the hospital found out and they didn't tell others because they did not know who they could trust. That's evidence to me that they do not have a voice at you facility. They are afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation. Obviously, things are not that great at your hospital or these nurses would not have contacted a union in the first place. It's too bad that you can't see how much courage it took for these nurses to take a stand and go public. I applaud them! (Not that I think you are taking the cowards way out. I am sure that the hospital loves you as much as you love them)

There are reasons why we have a nursing shortage. Hopefully, we can remedy this with some real change. I think that collective bargaining is a way to do that. You have a right to your own opinion and you can vote "no" on the union when the time comes. However, many are voting "Yes."

The SEIU and the CNA recently joined forces to create the "Nurses Alliance."

Their vision is to create one statewide nursing union.

In California alone, more than 275,000 SEIU registered and licensed vocational nurses, respiratory care practitioners, radiologic technologists, certified nurse assistants and every other type of health care professional work in hospitals, nursing homes, home care, jails, prisons and other settings.

The California Nurses Association (CNA) is the largest and fastest growing all-RN professional organization in the country representing 55,000 Registered Nurses in 150 facilities throughout the state.

feisty........i respect the fact that you truly believe in what you are saying.

i know that there are many nurses who believe the way you do who are not angry or unprofessional. i have had many talks with nurses who feel the same way you do and i think i have been able to listen and to also share

my viewpoint.

we should all be concerned about ridiculously overpaid ceo's, hospital corporations, hospital billing practices, nursing salaries, nurse patient ratios and more whether we are pro or anti union. i wonder what people think about the head guy at aetna............i just read he made 14 million last year....could that be right??? if so, why aren't we all jumping up and down about that!!!!

i'll say this again.................i have a great deal of respect for anyone who works as a professional nurse and i have been known for being very vocal and very supportive of all nurses.

so let's just agree to disagree on some things and support each other as professionals. this way we each get to hear what the other is saying and at some point, we may reach common ground.

respectfully, :kiss

music