Staff Perceptions of Decision-Making in a Shared Governance Culture

To evaluate differences in the shared decision-making perceptions of clinical nurses between initial implementation of a shared governance model and perceptions 3 years later after the model has matured.

Shared decision-making empowers nurses to have a voice in their practice and supports engagement and retention.

A prospective, 2-group comparative design was conducted using the Index of Professional Nursing Governance, a validated, reliable tool. After comparing data univariately, a multivariable linear regression model was used to evaluate the impact of nurse characteristics on shared decision-making responses.

Mean overall shared decision-making score (P = .23) and domain scores (P values between .055 and .63) did not increase in 2015 compared with 2012. After adjusting for differences in nurse characteristics between groups, overall score (P = .017) and 3 of 6 domain scores improved: professional control of work, structures for decisions and access to information (all P values between .005 and .031).

As shared governance became established, shared decision-making scores increased.