Adopting a shared governance model to improve nurses' working environments

Background: Adopting shared governance in nursing is considered a strategic tool that can enhance both nurse and patient satisfaction and will, in turn, improve nurses' work life. Aim: To compare the differences in nurses' perceptions of the quality of the work environment between hospitals that had adopted to use shared governance and those that had not. Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative design was used. Two hospitals were selected, one of them had adopted a shared governance approach at both the unit and departmental level and the other was a hospital that had not adopted shared governance. Results: From November 2017 to January 2018, 470 questionnaires were completed by nurses across the two hospitals, 330 of them were working in a hospital that had adopted shared governance. There is a statistically significant difference in how nurses percieve their work-life balance between the two hospitals (t=9.62; P=>0.001). Moreover, a significant positive correlation was recognised between the Perception of Quality of Work Life score and all subdomains of nurses' perceptions. Conclusion: The adoption of a shared governance model in the nursing department has a significant impact on improving the quality of the working life of a nurse.