A Guide for a Shared Governance Program

Shared governance (SG) within an organization promotes professional growth with the expectation that employees will be active contributors in attaining organizational goals. Healthcare organizational leaders ultimately have a fiduciary responsibility to stakeholders to seek quality improvement initiatives. SG leads to a healthy workplace environment staffed by empowered nurses. Having a committed workforce practicing within SG leads to increased employee satisfaction and engagement, and longer nursing tenures with loyalty to their organization. The low nursing turnover rates, associated with a satisfied and engaged staff, translate into efficient productivity, continuous quality improvement, better patient outcomes, and operational cost savings. Health systems administrators can maintain a dedicated workforce when they practice making decisions in collaboration with their bedside nursing staff. SG has demonstrated to be beneficial for employee professional growth which ultimately leads to organizational financial gains. The purpose of this project was to create a comprehensive guide for the implementation of a shared governance program in a hospital setting