Review: Measuring perceptions of shared governance in clinical practice: psychometric testing of the RN-focused Endex of Professional Governance (IPNG)

摘要

The engagement of staff with the running of a healthcare organisation is considered to be critical to its success, with staff empowerment identified as a key feature of High Reliability Organisations (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2007). More specifically, Laschinger and Leiter (2006) describe a clear link between nurse engagement and patient safety outcomes. Staff engagement was also found to be linked to recruitment and retention of nurses in 'magnet hospitals' in the United States (Scott et al., 1999). One route to high staff engagement is the enactment of shared governance, a system that was articulated by the American Association of University Professors, the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges' in their 1966 Statement on government of Colleges and Universities (AAUP, 1966). They assert that while financial authority ultimately lies with the governing body of an institution, professionals have the right, indeed the primary responsibility for decision-making within their areas of expertise. This approach has been adopted by a number of professional groups including nursing departments as far back as the 1970s (Christman, 1976).