Shared governance as vertical alignment of nursing group power and nurse practice council effectiveness.
OBJECTIVE
This study validates an instrument for measuring the effectiveness of nursing practice councils and offers a framework for measuring and understanding shared governance.


BACKGROUND
Empowerment results from the vertical alignment of nursing group power with nursing unit power practices. The field lacks an instrument for measuring nurses' practice of power.


METHODS
Two studies (n1 = 119; n2 = 248) are used to validate the Nursing Practice Council effectiveness scale (NPCes).


RESULTS
NPCes is a valid and reliable index of nursing practice council effectiveness. This study suggests specific diagnostic tools to understand two levels for actualized power, one at the group or departmental level and one at the unit level.


CONCLUSIONS
NPCes and the Sieloff-King Assessment of Group Power within Organizations (SKAGPO) can be used together to improve examination of shared governance. Examining group power as well as unit-level practices may give a more complete view of barriers to nurse empowerment.


CONCLUSIONS
Changing nursing power and practices in an organization may be made more effective by engaging and monitoring vertical alignment of strategies fostering power competencies among nurse leaders and simultaneously supporting nursing practice councils as a means of exercising nurse authority at the unit level.
Bogue
Richard J
RJ
Center for Health Futures at Florida Hospital, Winter Park, FL 32792, USA. richard.bogue@flhosp.org
Joseph
M Lindell
ML
Sieloff
Christina Leibold
CL
D006075:Governing Board; D006801:Humans; D009726:Nurses / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015401:Nursing Administration Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016272:Occupational Health; D011209:Power, Psychological; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States; D017132:Workplace / Q000458:organization & administration*