Shared Governance: Reality or Sham? in Nursing Profession

In a Nursing profession where others' health and well-being are priority. Tremendous technological, political economic and cultural changes have imposed a great stress with reference to staff, cost, equipment, supplies and techniques. Nursing executives are struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of organizational change in health care. Many are trying to jockey their nursing departments into the power arena as the organizational develops along corporate business lines. Is it reality or not (sham). What exactly, is it?And isn't it?

Shared governance is Accountability for decisions and respect for differences of opinion.The traditional management roles move from leading, planning and controlling to the more cohesive roles of integrating, facilitating and coordinating. The entire nursing organization must step back from the daily routine to ask what it is doing and what is being accomplished. The nurse needs a conceptual framework that guides individual and group actions, thinking and values. Without this common set of values or practice beliefs, the nurse cannot answer questions about outcomes of care.

Shared Governance is an organizational innovation that allows the nurses to be a part of decision making process to enable them to deliver high quality patient care and to be involved in decisions about the delivery of care.