Advice From the Forum: Shared Governance and Night Councils
Susan H. Weaver, PhD, RN, CRNI, NEA-BC
Shared governance night councils ensure that nurses on evening and night shifts have a voice in professional practice decisions. Dr. Susan Weaver, a researcher focused on hospital support during off-shifts, explains how to include night shift personnel in a shared governance model.
Like hospital operations, shared governance is a 24-hour phenomenon. No one, regardless of when they work, can be left out. The Forum consulted Dr. Susan Weaver, a solid researcher whose focus is house supervisors and support in hospitals during the evening and night shifts, to weigh in on how to best include personnel from night shifts in a shared governance model.
Why Night Councils Matter
Research has uncovered a difference between the typical day shift and the night shift in hospitals. As a result, many organizations have created night councils to provide a forum for night nurses to address their unique issues. Just as unit-based councils allow clinical nurses to have input into decisions that affect their practice on a particular unit, night shift clinical nurses discuss issues at night council meetings.
Considering that night shifts typically have newer staff and fewer available services, it is not surprising that initial night council meetings focus on topics such as food for staff and patients, educational needs, and the need to increase par levels. Over time, as night councils evolve and resolve basic needs, they progress to address more complex issues. For example, some councils develop tip sheets for new night staff on how to adjust to working nights.
Connecting Night Councils to the Governance Structure
Since the premise of shared governance is for all clinical nurses to have input into decisions that affect their practice, it is important that a night council representative participates in the hospital shared governance or professional practice council. Similarly, the agenda for night council meetings should include reports from other councils.
When to hold night council meetings depends on the night staff at the hospital. Some night councils meet before work at 5:30 PM, while others meet during the shift at 10 PM.
Interestingly, night councils also tend to encourage all staff who work the night shift, not just nurses, to attend and discuss issues unique to the night shift hospital world. This approach often results in improved communication and camaraderie across all disciplines. It is important to remember that clinical nurses care for patients during the daytime and at night time. As night councils continue to develop and evolve, more benefits will emerge from empowered night shift nurses contributing to improvements in nurse and patient safety.
Susan H. Weaver, PhD, RN, CRNI, NEA-BC
Nurse Scientist
Ann May Center for Nursing
Neptune, NJ
Hackensack Meridian Health,
System-Accredited in Shared Governance by the Forum for Shared Governance
A response from Barb Haag-Heitman, PhD, RN, FAAN, PHCNS-BC, board member, Forum for Shared Governance:
I congratulate Dr. Sue Weaver and her colleagues at Hackensack Meridian Health on the development of a Night Council. I am aware of several other organizations who have also implemented a night structure to provide a forum for identification and problem solving of the unique issues of night time workers. However, because these night-focused groups do not have a unique scope of work or professional decision-making authority for just nursing, I suggest that alignment with the Management Council or Operational Council as a standing committee be done, rather than as a stand-alone entity.