ABSTRACT
AIM: To examine the nurse manager perspective surrounding implementation of unit level shared governance in one Veterans Health Administration facility. BACKGROUND: Nursing shared governance is a formal model allowing nursing staff decision-making input into clinical practice, quality improvement, evidence-based practice and staff professional development. Unit level shared governance is a management process where decision authority is delegated to nursing staff at the unit level. METHODS: Convenience sampling was used to recruit ten nurse managers who participated in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using content analysis and constant comparison techniques. Demographic data were described using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The participants included seven female and three male nurse managers with seven Caucasian and three African American. Participant quotes were clustered to identify sub-themes that were then grouped into four global themes to describe unit level shared governance. The global themes were: (1) motivation, (2) demotivation, (3) recommendations for success, and (4) outcomes. CONCLUSION: These research findings resonate with previous studies that shared governance may be associated with increased nurse empowerment, self-management, engagement, and satisfaction. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: These findings reflect the need for nurse managers to promote and recognize staff participation in unit level shared governance.
Subject(s)
Decision Making , Nurse Administrators/psychology , Nurses/standards , Perception , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Nurses/psychology , Pilot Projects , Power, Psychological , Qualitative Research , Self-ManagementABSTRACT
Using a systematic, evidence-based approach for developing a business plan allows nurse executives to forecast the needs of the organization, involve nursing staff at all levels, evaluate the direction of the profession, and present a plan with clear, concise goals. The authors describe 4 steps necessary in developing an effective evidence-based business plan.
Subject(s)
Education, Nursing, Continuing/organization & administration , Evidence-Based Nursing/organization & administration , Nurse Administrators/organization & administration , Nursing Service, Hospital/organization & administration , Program Development , Humans , Leadership , Nursing Administration Research , Organizational Innovation , Planning Techniques , Staff Development/organization & administration , United StatesABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate a multi-component method for capturing nutrient intake, which used observation, photography, and an innovative computer program. To assess reliability and accuracy, multiple responsible employees (REs) independently conducted nutrient intake assessments on simulated meals; each RE's results relating to energy intake were compared to those from the other REs and to those obtained by pre- and post-meal weighing of the food items. System efficiency was assessed by having REs perform independent assessments on the same set of simulated meals using either the new or traditional hospital method for which the REs had to document each food item served and then find the items in a computer database-steps that were automated in the new method. Interrater reliability for energy intake estimated on clinic wards was excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.975, 95% CI 0.958 to 0.992) and there was a high level of agreement between the REs' estimates and the true values determined by food weighing; per the method of Bland and Altman the mean difference between the two types of estimates was 0.3 kcal (95% CI, -8.1 to 8.7 kcal) with limits of agreement of -79.5 kcal to 80.1 kcal. Compared to the traditional method, energy intake assessments could be completed using the multi-component method in less than a third of the time. These results indicate the multi-component method is an accurate, reliable, and efficient method of obtaining energy intake assessments for hospitalized patients.