Accountability grids for professional governance explored

Nursing leaders at Salinas Valley Health Medical Center in Salinas, Calif., describe how they created and implemented clinical nurse, nurse leader and nurse executive accountability grids with clearly delineated authority for decision-making in professional governance. The nursing leaders developed the grids to address obstacles or misunderstandings when clinical nurses’ exercised authority over clinical practice, according to the article, published in the February issue of the Journal of Nursing Administration. The grids incorporate a series of behavioral and outcome statements to translate role-specific professional standards into expected behaviors and actions. Among other resources, they used the AONL Nurse Manager and AONL Executive Competencies. The authors believe other hospitals can adapt their processes to overcome persistent challenges in successful professional governance enculturation and role accountability.