How Do You “C” Yourself in Shared Leadership? Utilizing A Central Council Structure to Foster Connection, Collaboration, and Communication In Ambulatory Care Shared Governance Councils

Outcome: Participants will be able to illustrate how a multi-location health system utilized a central council structure in their ambulatory care shared governance model to facilitate communication and collaboration across all represented clinical practice areas and connect front-line staff to similar practice settings across the enterprise.
Purpose: Shared governance is a leadership model that facilitates shared decision-making and empowers front-line clinicians to determine, implement, and maintain practice standards in their clinical environment. An effective ambulatory care shared governance model enables front-line clinicians to communicate and collaborate to drive changes needed for delivery of quality patient care and outcomes.
Description: A large academic health system in Northern California expanded their shared governance structure to include ambulatory care in 2019. With 11 service lines, 37 clinical practice locations, and >600 nurses represented, engagement of all represented ambulatory care practice sites required a method to connect clinical staff across all practice locations, allow for collaborative work, and communicate outcomes. The action request form (ARF) platform, first developed in the organization’s inpatient shared governance structure, was utilized in the ambulatory care shared governance structure to connect staff at all practice areas to their respective council. Any staff member can submit requests and recommend solutions for improvements in their clinical practice area (Moreno et al., 2018). These requests are then routed to the associated service line council. ARFs are reviewed and discussed monthly at shared governance council meetings, with actions taken towards resolution documented within the ARF platform to communicate this information back to the submitter. Sustained utilization of the platform by front-line staff has been maintained through consistent communication and confidence that submissions to the platform will be acknowledged and addressed. The expected timeframe for closure of each request is