Abstract
While professional governance is an effective strategy for improving team engagement and empowerment in hospital systems, fews studies provide guidelines for how to measure the relative health of an organization's professional governance. Of note, the effectiveness of the unit council is fundamental to successful professional governance, professional competence, and leadership (Hess et al., 2020).
The purpose of this multi-site survey study is to evaluate clinical nurses’ and nurse leaders’ perspectives on their unit council’s health so that our organization can identify the gaps and implement strategies for improvement.
Led by a team of nurse scientists and leaders, this is an ongoing, observational survey study conducted across 11 hospital campuses in a large medical system. Data are collected electronically via Qualtrics for 8 weeks. Recruitment is facilitated by the distribution of emails to the nursing listservs and announcements at professional governance meetings. The survey consists of demographic questions, a screening question regarding participation in the council, and the Council Health Survey, which is a 25-item, validated survey with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.95, with three subscales measuring the council structure, activities, and membership.
Amid week 7 of data collection, there are 870 participants, including clinical nurses, 664 (74%), and nurse leaders, 139 (16%), with an educational background of Bachelor’s, 522 (60%), and Master’s, 287 (33%). The majority identified as a woman, 716 (82%), with a racial/ethnic distribution of White 327 (38%), Asian 206 (24%), Black 116 (13.3%), and Hispanic/Latino 114 (13.3%). Preliminary findings reveal that most participants, 551 (63.3%), participate in their unit council. Responses to the Council Health Survey showed that the highest agreement scores were observed across the structure and activities subscales. Comparatively, the membership subscale had lower ratings.
In summary, preliminary data indicate that a shared governance framework is actively practiced with strong foundations in structures and activities, such as bylaws, member roles, and shared decision-making processes. However, there were lower agreement scores in the membership domain, highlighting challenges in training, protected time, and participation of non-council staff. Opportunities exist to strengthen membership as a strategic priority through structured education, mentorship, and leadership support to optimize council effectiveness.
Notes
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks to Weill Cornell Clinical & Translational Science Center, Jason Chua for biostatistics support.
FUNDING Supported by grant number (UL1 TR 002384; MPI: Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).
References:
1. Hess, R. G., Jr, Bonamer, J. I., Swihart, D., & Brull, S. (2020). Measuring Council Health to Transform Shared Governance Processes and Practice. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 50(2), 104–108. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000849
2. June, E., Rivera, R. R., Jackman, K., & (2024). Improving Professional Governance in Nursing: Applying Organizational Gap Analysis and Strategy Implementation in a Medical Intensive Care Unit Council. Nurse Leader, 22(4), 393-398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2024.04.012
3. Porter-O’Grady, T., & Clavelle, J. T. (2020). The structural framework for nursing professional governance: Foundation for empowerment. Nurse Leader, 18(2), 181-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2019.08.004
4. Walden, M., Eddy, L. A., Huett, A., Lovenstein, A., Ramick, A., Jeffs, D., & Scott-Roberson, A. (2022). Use of the Council Health Survey to assess shared governance in a pediatric hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurse Leader, 20(3), 306-315. doi: 10.1016/j.mnl.2021.12.006
5. Williams, M., & Christopher, R. (2023). Moving shared governance to the next level: assessing council health and training council chairs. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 53(1), 6-11. doi:10.1097/NNA.0000000000001235
Sigma Membership
Alpha Theta
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Observational
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Workforce, Interprofessional Initiatives, Mentoring and Coaching, Organizational Governance, Corporate Governance
Recommended Citation
Gannon, Ray; Jackman, Kasey; and Rivera, Reynaldo R., "Building an Engaged Workforce: Assessment of Unit Council Health Within a Large Healthcare System" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 98.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/posters_2026/98
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-09-06
Building an Engaged Workforce: Assessment of Unit Council Health Within a Large Healthcare System
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
While professional governance is an effective strategy for improving team engagement and empowerment in hospital systems, fews studies provide guidelines for how to measure the relative health of an organization's professional governance. Of note, the effectiveness of the unit council is fundamental to successful professional governance, professional competence, and leadership (Hess et al., 2020).
The purpose of this multi-site survey study is to evaluate clinical nurses’ and nurse leaders’ perspectives on their unit council’s health so that our organization can identify the gaps and implement strategies for improvement.
Led by a team of nurse scientists and leaders, this is an ongoing, observational survey study conducted across 11 hospital campuses in a large medical system. Data are collected electronically via Qualtrics for 8 weeks. Recruitment is facilitated by the distribution of emails to the nursing listservs and announcements at professional governance meetings. The survey consists of demographic questions, a screening question regarding participation in the council, and the Council Health Survey, which is a 25-item, validated survey with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.95, with three subscales measuring the council structure, activities, and membership.
Amid week 7 of data collection, there are 870 participants, including clinical nurses, 664 (74%), and nurse leaders, 139 (16%), with an educational background of Bachelor’s, 522 (60%), and Master’s, 287 (33%). The majority identified as a woman, 716 (82%), with a racial/ethnic distribution of White 327 (38%), Asian 206 (24%), Black 116 (13.3%), and Hispanic/Latino 114 (13.3%). Preliminary findings reveal that most participants, 551 (63.3%), participate in their unit council. Responses to the Council Health Survey showed that the highest agreement scores were observed across the structure and activities subscales. Comparatively, the membership subscale had lower ratings.
In summary, preliminary data indicate that a shared governance framework is actively practiced with strong foundations in structures and activities, such as bylaws, member roles, and shared decision-making processes. However, there were lower agreement scores in the membership domain, highlighting challenges in training, protected time, and participation of non-council staff. Opportunities exist to strengthen membership as a strategic priority through structured education, mentorship, and leadership support to optimize council effectiveness.
Description
This ongoing multi-site study assesses the health of unit councils by surveying clinical nurses and leaders across 11 hospitals in a large urban healthcare system. Current findings show strong council structures and activities, but identify challenges in membership engagement. Addressing education, mentorship, and leadership support is key to enhancing council effectiveness and sustainability.