Diana Swihart

Shared governance is an organizational model that provides a structure for shared decision making among professionals about practice and clinical outcomes. Shared governance legitimizes nurses' decision-making control over their practice while extending their influence to some administrative areas previously controlled by managers. The popularity of shared governance is largely due to the rise of the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Recognition Program's acknowledgement that professionals need a professional structure to sustain professional behaviors and excellence in clinical outcomes. Magnet applicant hospitals must meet the criteria for the structural empowerment of nurses -- that is, demonstrate structures and processes that enable nurses from all settings and roles to participate in organizational decision-making groups that affect nursing practice. A successful shared governance program satisfies this requirement.