Critical care nurse Kate Wood during a recent council meeting.
In June 2009, a team of 74 staff nurses, together with nursing leadership, met to develop a new shared governance model. A shared governance structure empowers nurses to control their practice and to participate in decision-making processes affecting their practice, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes.
The nurses proposed a council model structure along with a mission and purpose for each council in the model. This team of nurses met again in October 2009 to expand on the work they started. At this time, a draft of the bylaws was formulated, and 10 staff nurses volunteered to be part of a transition team. The transition team was charged with finalizing the details for the new shared governance model, and to prepare the nursing staff for “go live” in May 2010.
Cooper nurses are encouraged to seriously consider joining a new council. Now is a great time to be a Cooper nurse and get involved in shaping the future of nursing at Cooper.
Transition team members include:
- Sandy Durflinger, R.N. (CCL)
- Amanda Glass, R.N. (Peds/PICU)
- Keith Kline, R.N., B.S.N. (Trauma)
- Joanne Ludwick, R.N. (N/S10)
- Janine McNamara, R.N., B.S.N. (Mt. Laurel)
- Diane Miller, R.N. (Rancocas)
- Fran Orth, R.N., B.S.N. (PACU)
- Dominic Parone, R.N., B.S.N. (ED)
- Linda Rowan, R.N. (ICU/CCU)
- Kate Wood, R.N., B.S.N. (N/S10)
- Diane Floyd, R.N., B.S.N. (Trauma)
- Jeanne Greer, R.N., B.S.N. (Mt. Laurel)
KYW 1060 aired a segment on the new working council structure and spoke with eight year veteran critical care nurse Kate Wood:
“My role is to be a voice for the nurses to help make decisions with management to have better patient outcomes and to advance the practice of nursing.”
Read a transcript of the report on KYW 1060’s website by visiting www.kyw1060.com.