Shared governance--a unit based concept

Shared governance has been depicted as a way of increasing staff nurse involvement: in work, motivation, quality of worklife, organizational commitment, power to influence patient care, and professional pride. This management style is typically implemented on a corporate basis in non-unionized organizations. However, it was identified as an initiative that could enable staff growth, innovation, autonomy and professionalism on a single nursing unit within a unionized hospital. The process of implementing a Shared Governance model on a 29 bed neuroscience unit in an 850 bed acute care teaching hospital is described.