Magnet® Matters: Councils provide forum for nurses to make decisions about clinical practice, quality, and more
This is the fifth in a series of articles to educate faculty and staff about what it means to be a Magnet® hospital. WVU Medicine-WVU Hospitals has been named a Magnet® hospital three times. It became the first and only West Virginia hospital to achieve such recognition in 2005, and was re-designated in 2009 and 2015. The hospital, which remains the state's only Magnet® hospital, is up for re-designation this year. Contact Magnet® Program Director Lya M. Stroupe with questions.
Nursing Shared Governance is a model in which nurses are members of councils that make decisions about clinical practice and quality improvement, professional development, and research.
There are seven councils at WVU Medicine-WVU Hospitals:
Nursing Quality and Patient Safety Council
- Identifies measures for improving quality and patient outcomes
- Evaluates new equipment
- Assesses patient satisfaction
Recruitment and Retention Council
- Implements strategies to promote retention of nursing staff
- Creates annual inpatient recruitment plan
Nursing Education Council
- Reviews issues related to nursing competencies
- Assesses house-wide and cross-divisional educational needs and strategies
- Develops educational policies and procedures
Nursing Policy, Procedure, and Standards of Professional Practice Council
- Reviews current and new nursing policies, procedures and standards of care
- Reviews/houses up-to-date materials for nursing policies and procedures
Research and Evidence-based Practice Council
- Reviews research and evidence-based practice project ideas
- Assesses issues related to nursing research or evidence-based practice
Interprofessional Enterprise User Council
- Assesses and prioritizes requests and revisions for patient education for the system
- Assesses and prioritizes requests for changes to the electronic medical record for the system
Nursing Practice Council
- Reviews nursing practice issues and solutions
- Reviews issues related to strategic plan
- Recommends new practices or changes to current nursing practices
Other articles in the Magnet® Matters series: