Shared Governance in Ambulatory Care: "A Clinical Nurse and Nurse Leader Collaboration"

Objectives
• Describe the development of ambulatory care nursing shared governance structure.
• Describe the strategies and best practices for implementation of shared governance principles in ambulatory practice.
• Discuss the benefits, barriers, and lessons learned of clinical nurses and leaders in shared governance.

Description: Shared governance is a management approach utilized by organizations to create an environment that supports empowerment of all staff to make the best, most well-informed decisions possible. Shared governance gives frontline clinicians the unique opportunity to partner with leadership to be involved and take the lead for changes in their practice areas. This approach further supports a collaborative professional environment that supports improvement in patient outcomes, patient and staff satisfaction, as well as active staff engagement. As the ambulatory care practice environment continues to evolve, implementation of shared decision-making structure will continue to be a major factor in supporting the transformation of healthcare.

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the structure and process of a shared governance structure in an ambulatory practice setting. We will outline the development of the shared governance model as well as describe the collaboration and partnership between clinical nurses and nurse leaders to implement the shared decision principles into professional nursing practice. In addition, the presentation will describe strategies used to encourage engagement, professional development, empowerment, and accountability of the interdisciplinary care team. We will share the clinical nurse and the nurse leaders perspective and experiences with shared governance in addition to outcomes, successes, and lessons learned over the years.