Improving Care Through Shared Governance
At Cincinnati Children's, the Interprofessional Practice model directly aligns with the Interprofessional Shared Governance forum which enables autonomy and accountability while positioning clinicians to advocate for those they serve and serve beside. The Interprofessional Shared Governance forums influences our practice, our care, and our voice through the integration of a shared language while participating in shared decision-making. .
The Interprofessional Shared Governance forum is grounded in two fundamental premises. First, for the best decision-making to occur, those directly involved in that area of practice must be involved in decision-making about that practice. Secondly, the majority of decision-making about practice should be occurring at the point of care.
By actualizing these two premises, nurses and allied health professionals from all settings and roles are empowered to actively participate in all levels of organizational decision-making.
Examples of Shared Governance Impact while Developing Leaders:
- Updating professional practice to reflect safe patient care through evidence summary reviews, advocacy and influence by optimizing the use of Farrell bags, enteral tube placement verification, and frequency of pulse oximetry probe changes. Additionally, many of these initiatives impacted a cost savings to our organization
- Streamlining and decreasing Electronic Medical Record documentation using design-thinking strategies for all admissions at Cincinnati Children's
- Oversight for Patient Services grants and the Carolyn Stoll scholarship grant
- Review and dissemination of research, evidence-based projects, quality improvement and innovation categories through the annual Inquiry Day
- Collaborating and impacting annual strategic priorities by decreasing harm events for patients, families and colleagues
Our Voice
“I have participated in Shared Governance on and off for several years. My current role includes the Innovation & Research Tenet as a Home Care PoC-IC member. My experience in Shared Governance promotes autonomy and empowerment by emphasizing direct caregivers’ ownership of our decisions. I especially enjoy working on the specialty teams within home care, such as the patient-family education and inquiry teams. I am energized when I see coworkers actively participate and lead small projects through the shared governance structure. Having a voice in shared-decision making has made my participation in Shared Governance a positive experience.” Lynne O’Donnell MSN, RN IV, CPN
“I have been a member of the Best Practice/Affordability tenet and Home Care PoC-IC for almost 2 years. Being a part of the Affordability tenet has expanded my knowledge on how the hospital works on ways to reduce costs. The members represent different areas of the hospital, and everyone is asked to explore ways to reduce operating costs. This year's goal is to reduce costs by 500K. I have met so many dedicated professionals. The Home Care PoC-IC meetings give me the opportunity to see how all facets of the department work together. It is interesting to see how an idea can evolve into a practice change. Anyone can send in a referral and the team will look into ways to come up with the best solution. I am so grateful for having the opportunity to participate in Shared Governance.” Tricia Prybal
