Shared Governance at Baptist Health Paducah

Shared Governance is as an organizational framework that:

• Grants nurses professional autonomy.
• Empowers professional nursing staff and managers to collaborate on issues related to patient care, professional nursing practice and unit operations.
• Recognizes the expertise of the bedside clinicians.

There are unit councils to address quality improvement and patient care, and Baptist Health Paducah has four house-wide councils:

• Interdisciplinary Quality Practice Council (IQPC) with sub-councils in Practice and Technology/Quality
• Nursing Research Council
• Nursing Management Council
• Professional Development Council

They discuss patient care, nursing practice, and the practice environment, with all decisions focused on the patient and family.

Shared Governance supports our Professional Practice Model of Relationship –Based Care, built on the principles of developing relationships between patients, families, and caregivers.

Baptist Health Paducah nurses believe a therapeutic relationship between the patient/family and a professional nurse is key to quality care.