In the first (February 2001) of a three-part series on the role of nursing
in care centered organizations, the rationale for establishing service line
s, the process for determining governance structure, and the changing role
of nurse executives in a large academic medical center reorganized around s
ervice-line care deliver were discussed. In this second article, the author
describes the nursing governance structure in two academic healthcare inst
itutions after their redesign into care centers.