Nurse leader shares keys to successful shared governance

Shared governance needs continuous care, attention, advocacy “and that 'care-and-feeding' piece to make it successful," AONL member Peg Gagne, MSN, RN, told HealthLeaders Media in a recent interview. Gagne is chief nursing officer for University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC), a 500-bed academic medical center in Burlington. She oversees a staff of roughly 1,800 nurses and took part in redesigning UVMMC's nursing professional governance system. It now includes councils devoted to unit practice, service lines and quality concerns. A coordinating council ensures that efforts align across councils and match strategic priorities. In the interview, Gagne also details the value of taking an inclusive approach during the redesign effort and its impact of the redesign on staffing and front-line nurse satisfaction. (HealthLeaders Media article, 8/2/21)