Magnet® Matters: Examining Nursing's Shared Governance Council
This is the sixth 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.
The next few Magnet® Matters articles will focus on the Shared Governance Council and the projects the members have been a part of over the past year. First, we'll look at the Nursing Quality and Patient Safety Council, which is led by Neil Bennett and Maria Collins.
This council identifies measures for improving quality and patient outcomes. Most recently, this council has been a part of the project of forming comprehensive unit-based safety program (CUSP) teams throughout our organization. Other projects this past year include the physician notification of video monitoring and tourniquet color change. The council reviews patient safety reports and the nurse-sensitive clinical indicators.
Do you know what nurse-sensitive clinical indicators your unit tracks? Units usually track central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI), and falls with injuries. Ask your colleagues about these and find out what your unit is tracking and how your unit’s specific outcomes measure up to other academic medical facilities around the country.
Stay tuned to more Shared Governance facts next time.
Other articles in the Magnet® Matters series: