Shared governance council to engage advanced practice registered nurses in a hospital setting.

Abstract

Health care organizations use advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to expand patient access and support high-quality care. However, turnover, often exacerbated by inadequate engagement, has steep financial and experiential costs. The project site, a large urban academic institution with quaternary care capabilities, employs more than 300 APRNs to provide patient care. Due to variations in hiring entity, leadership structure, and organizational visibility, efforts to maintain APRN engagement were complex. In addition, inconsistencies in standardization of clinical, credentialing, and privileging procedures created organizational risk. Quality improvement principles informed the implementation of a shared governance council for APRNs that included nurse practitioners and certified registered nurse anesthetists. Data were collected pre and postintervention using validated engagement questions. Implementation of a shared governance council to support the organizational engagement of APRNs through decisional involvement in professional practice issues. Analysis included the percentage of change in aggregate scores and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test to obtain p values of the 2 independent samples. There was an 8.9% increase in aggregate postintervention scores and statistical improvement in measures of quality improvement involvement. Participation in the shared governance council increased APRN engagement through enhanced opportunities to communicate professional and clinical practice issues, decisional involvement, and collaboration. Statistically significant improvements in quality improvement involvement values potentially affirm the council's role in facilitating work environment improvements. Potential long-term gains include improved job satisfaction, retention, and organizational cost savings.