AN UPDATE ON NURSING INVOLVEMENT IN-HOSPITAL GOVERNANCE - 1990-1996

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.