Free Essay on Nursing Governance Models

Nursing governance models are put in place to ensure that the practice of providing care to patients is properly administered. As such, an organization for the provision of care is possible through an organization of nursing governance models. Different models are expected to integrate various pertinent values and belief into the provision of care in order to ensure that the care professional can achieve their objectives of quality care provision. Such models have been put in place for the improvement of the workplace environment for the care provider (Hess, 2004). Three major models have emerged in the course of care for the organization of the care professionals, namely the councilor model, administrative model and congressional model. This paper looks at various models for nursing governance.

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Initially, shared governance came about as a result of the need to ensure that nurses and care professionals were engaged in the work they did. This involves making sure that they could actively participate in leadership, management and decision-making processes in the course of care. A wider scale engagement in the workplace means that nurses will become more productive as opposed to a widely dictated workplace.

Councilor Governance in Nursing

In councilor governance, subcommittees are involved in the decision-making process. The nurses will organize themselves to work together within small groups for the purpose of ease of communication to leadership concerning particular matters. The coordinating council has four major tools for its operation, namely management, practice, education and performance improvement. These tools work together for the provision of higher quality care for the patients involved. The management will work together with those on the field to determine the challenges that workers on the ground are experiencing. Education is thus empowered in the model as practitioners eek evidence-based practices for the improvement of the overall quality of care provided to the clients (Anthony, 2004). The intention of this model is to improve the nursing environment based on a combination of factors.

The Administrative Model of Nursing Governance

This model, on the other hand, represents a more traditional approach where there is a hierarchical order where there is a split between the clinical section and the management of the practice. This brings about a separation between the two roles, although in practice, both roles can be found to occur in several practitioners. Implementation also involves both practitioners and management staff as major stakeholders in the change processes. The administrative model brings out an order about dealing with issues from a lower level of influence till a higher influence in the nursing leadership structure.

Congressional Model of Nursing Governance

In the congressional model, the nurses on board an organization are empowered in the decision making process by allowing them to cast the ballot on issues of concern. Therefore, the combination of the nurse human resource, executive cabinet, care council and congress are empowered to give their suggestions and vote on them, whether these issues are on education, quality or practice. Therefore, nurses are empowered to decide which steps they can take with regards to issues that affect them, such as evidence-based practice, workplace environment and such issues which are not covered by statutory law.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the effectiveness of shared leadership approaches has been sampled in many occasions and researches. Shared governance has been able to achieve overall ease in reaching care objectives of providing higher quality of care and improving workplace conditions for the nurses.

References

Anthony, M. (2004). Shared Governance Models: the Theory, Practice and Evidence. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.

Hess, R. (2004). From bedside to Boardroom - Nursing Shared Governance. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.