Major studies described integrating nurses into health care organizati
onal governance structure as ''pivotal'' to positively affect costs, c
lient satisfaction, and coordination of resources. This 1994 study fol
lowed the same methodology as an earlier 1990 study that focused on th
e status and level of governance participation of a broad cross-sectio
n of CNEs. Though nurse leader involvement in organizational redesign
was ''enormous,'' nurses were found to be only moderately involved in
strategic decision making for the future of their organizations. Only
10% of the CNEs reported that they held voting membership on their hos
pital governing boards. Few governing bodies had nursing advisory coun
cils, but such nurse involvement was reported to be more common in aca
demic medical centers. Eighty-nine percent of the CNE respondents repo
rted that staff RNs were involved in their organization's interdiscipl
inary committees, a significant increase from the earlier survey.