Shared Governance Paper

The utilization of shared governance in nursing and healthcare was initiated in the late 1970’s-early 1980’s as a form of participative management (hcpro.com, 2014). Prior to this, most decisions were made by upper level management in an approach know as centralization (Huber, 2014). Shared governance utilizes a decentralized approach as the decision making process is performed by self managed work teams (Huber, 2014). Shared governance empowers nurses to have authority and control over their practice (Huber, 2014). Shared governance committees are comprised of various staff members that meet to brainstorm and make decisions on issues regarding practice, management, quality and education (Hess, 2004). “Shared governance is touted as a strategy

Ten Lessons in Collaboration include (Gardner, 2005):

1.Know Thyself - by understanding your values and biases

2.Learn to Value and Manage Diversity – by optimizing the differences among the members of the team and realizing that there is no value in everybody thinking the same way

3.Develop Constructive Conflict Resolution Skills – by redirecting conflicts on a personal level to the task at hand

4.Use Your Power to Create Win-Win Situations – by utilizing knowledge, education and goodwill towards other members of the group

5.Master Interpersonal and Process Skills – by utilizing flexibility, clinical competence and cooperation

6.Recognize that Collaboration is a Journey - by recognizing that it takes time to develop successful collaborative relationships but with each successful encounter, the collaboration process gets easier as trust and mutual respect is

Effective collaboration within nursing and with other health care professionals can lead to higher quality outcomes (Gardner, 2005).

References

Gardner, D. (2005). Ten lessons in collaboration. The On-line Journal of Issues in Nursing, 10(1), Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume102005/No1Jan05/tpc26_116008.aspx

Hess, R. (2004). From bedside to boardroom – nursing shared governance. The On-line Journal of Issues in Nursing, 9(1), Retrieved from http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume92004/No1Jan04/FromBedsidetoBoardroom.aspx

History and development of shared governance. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.hcpro.com/NRS-266847-975/From-the-staff-development-bookshelf-History-and-development-of-shared-governance.html

Huber, D. (2014). Leadership & Nursing Care Management (5th ED.) St. Louis, MI: Elsevier