URMC / Strong Nursing / Shared Governance
Shared Governance
The Professional Nursing Council (PNC) was established to guide the continuing development of nursing practice at URMC representing inpatient and ambulatory staff nurses. The PNC is officiated by the President, Vice President and Unit Shared Governance Council Leader all of whom work closely with the PNC advisors and the Chief Nursing Executive (CNE) of URMC. The PNC officers are staff nurses who maintain their bedside care throughout their leadership term. The PNC provides an integrative structure to address, identify and problem solve issues affecting all of nursing practice, and has 10 sub-councils under its umbrella. The purpose of the PNC and its sub-councils is to:
- Participate in the development and promulgation of the standards of nursing practice in conjunction with the medical center quality assurance programs.
- Promote quality patient and family care while promoting continuing education, quality improvement and development of nurses.
- Opportunity for decision-making made at the unit, service and organization levels.
- Promote the continuing development of professional nursing within URMC.
- Guide individual units towards a successful shared governance council so all voices are valued and heard.
URMC's 5th Magnet Designation Exemplar 2024
Dr. Karen Keady, CNO, URMC SMH is committed to shared governance across the organization, from ancillary to physicians with nurses role modeling the way. Dr. Keady believed recovery and the way through the pandemic was with inclusive shared governance. In May of 2021, she committed to revitalize, enhance, and empower the Professional Nursing Council (PNC) structure with a professional governance budget. Unit councils had dwindled because they lacked time. All were focused on supporting patient care needs. Dr. Keady refused to allow professional governance to be diminished. She leaned into URMC's Goal 5 of the organization's strategic plan "Generate financial resources to thrive and enable support of URMC and UR strategic plans," and took action to develop a professional governance budget, inclusive of organization wide participation. She justified the value of shared decision-making. Paid and protected time was essential components of promoting shared governance engagement. Dr. Keady successfully advocated for paid and protected time for the PNC President, Vice[1] President, and Shared Governance Leader (newly innovated) to a total of 1.6 FTEs. In addition, other key council positions such as the co-chairs and unit representatives received 4 hours of dedicated time per pay period. The total cost for one year of appropriately resourcing the PNC was $379,331 annually. The resources provided the time and dedicated roles for nurses and interprofessional colleagues to fully participate in the PNC, which was essential to decision-making throughout the organization. Dr. Keady's vision, leadership, and advocacy for the organizational investment in a shared governance infrastructure during one of the most challenging times in healthcare history is exemplary.
Exemplar written and submitted by the ANCC Magnet Appraiser Team from their January 2024 site visit. They were to provide supporting evidence showcasing the CNO’s leadership that led to a strategic organizational change.
Every Nurse at Strong is Part of the Professional Nursing Council
Nursing at URMC has a long-standing history working in a shared governance environment. This approach creates a work setting in which nurses participate in the planning and decisions that affect their everyday practice. At URMC, this is accomplished through the Professional Nursing Council (PNC) at the hospital level and threads to Unit Councils in each clinical practice area. The PNC is governed by criteria that were developed collaboratively by staff nurses, the PNC officers, and the CNE.
Professional Nursing Council Bylaws
The Structure of the Professional Nursing Council
The PNC is chaired and managed by staff nurses who work closely with the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) to address areas important to nurses. To accomplish the goals of this group the PNC is sub-divided into nine working councils, each chaired by a staff nurse with an advance practice nurse (APN) co-chair.
Click the plus (+) sign to read more about the purpose of each of the PNC Sub-councils: