Our nursing shared leadership structures and processes provide nurses in direct care positions with opportunities for involvement in decision-making that affects their daily practice. Committees have been established at the hospital-wide, departmental and unit levels in order to facilitate both horizontal and vertical communication across the Division of Nursing.

All major nursing departments are represented on the hospital-wide Shared Leadership Committees (pdf) . The work of the committees is coordinated through the Chief Nurse Executive Coordinating Council.

A listing of the major committees is shown below. Each of these committees helps to create a practice environment that fosters nursing excellence and promotes autonomy, clinical decision making and accountability for nursing practice.

Nursing Professional Practice Committee

Oversees nursing practice to ensure safe, high quality, evidence-based care, such as:

• Overseeing the development and revision of nursing policies and procedures
• Recommending evidence-based practice changes to meet Best Patient Experience goals
• Reviewing the hospital's written staffing plan bi-annually to ensure ongoing staffing compliance by Patient Acuity Legislation

Nursing Education & Professional Development Committee

Promotes knowledge, skill and competency through education and professional development.

Nursing Research & Evidence-Based Practice Committee

Advances research and evidence-based practice projects through education, mentoring and the development of effective processes and support structures.

Nursing Best People & Professional Excellence Committee

Develops and implements programs and initiatives to promote recruitment and retention and to foster a safe and healthy work environment.

Nursing Technology & Informatics Committee

Implements and optimizes the use of technology and informatics to promote the delivery of safe and effective patient care.

Nursing Quality & Patient Safety Committee

Creates a culture of quality within nursing that supports the Best Patient Experience.

• Advance the quality of care
• Maximize patient safety through supporting hospital-wide quality plans and goals
• Develop an annual quality plan
• Monitor identified quality indicators
• Develop interventions to achieve target metrics
• Oversee unit-based quality councils

Departmental Shared Leadership Councils (SLCs)

Provides an ongoing forum to facilitate the flow of information to and from Shared Leadership Committees.

• Develop, implement and evaluate programs and initiatives at the departmental and unit levels to foster the following:
  • Quality
  • Patient safety
  • Evidence-based practice
  • Nursing excellence
• Provide department/division specific perspective to guide decision-making

Unit-Based Quality Councils

In conjunction with the Patient Safety and Quality Committee, the unit-based quality councils monitor metrics, identify opportunities for improvement and work on initiatives that improve patient outcomes.