Shared Governance is a concept which applies a collaborative approach towards leadership and decision making.
It is designed to empower the healthcare workforce, encouraging those delivering care to determine how it is delivered.
This lies at the heart of MAGNET principles; promoting advanced nursing standards and practices to attract and retain knowledgeable, capable staff.
“90% of decisions made about patient care should be made by those who deliver that care, at the point of care” Tim Porter-O’Grady (2001)
At the NIHR NDDCRF, all members of the research team were invited to join the Shared Governance Council. As a result, our team has included nurses, practitioners, support workers and administrative staff. We decided on the issues in which we wanted to see improvement.
We have been offered support and guidance on how to implement required changes. As a continuous process, we are still finding more projects to work on.
We are learning to discuss issues as a team; putting our ideas forward, listening to others and encouraging quieter members of the group to participate.
Our group contains members with many different strengths and weaknesses. Shared Governance contains the flexibility to take all these into account. Throughout the process, we have encountered problems which have forced us to look for innovative solutions and seek guidance from people we would not otherwise have had any professional involvement with.
We have learned that our ideas are valuable and that we have the ability to make real changes contributing to the running of our department.
For more information please contact: Shellie Radford ([email protected], , Amy Ward ([email protected], and Ruth Shephard ([email protected], : Senior Research Nurses