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The UVAHS Professional Nursing Staff Organization Nursing Shared Governance through the PNSO |
Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, FAAN, as Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Clinical Officer at UVAHS, leads nursing utilizing an innovative structure that fosters the integration of clinical staff leaders in partnership with nursing management. She is responsible for the nursing practice in all areas of the Health System. Her leadership supports a thriving and long-lived model of shared governance, the Professional Nursing Staff Organization (PNSO).
This professional practice structure was first adopted in 1988. It has matured and evolved since that time. Bylaws were developed utilizing a parliamentary process. There is a unique budget for the PNSO. The priority of leadership by practicing nurses, and the primacy of clinical practice to the discipline, is reflected in the support of the roles of President and President-elect as shared positions. These nurse leaders have 50% of their time supported centrally while retaining 50% of their time in their clinical roles. The participation of direct-care nurses in institutional planning and decision-making is achieved through this representative democracy.
Nursing shared governance is deeply valued by all nurses at the UVAHS. The PNSO provides a formal and exemplary system for conducting the practice of nursing in an academic medical center.
The Governance Committee
Oversight and promotion of shared governance is one of the four core missions of the PNSO, as described by the Bylaws. Actively pursuing this mission is one of the key standing committees of the PNSO, the Governance Committee, chaired in 2006 by Pam DeGuzman.
Mission: Accountable to the Cabinet for the development of structure and mechanisms that establish professional nursing practice and for professional advancement within the University of Virginia Health System. Governance-sponsored subcommittees are the Communications, Nominating and Congress Planning committees. The Governance Committee reviews the Bylaws annually, and puts any recommended amendments to a full membership vote during October elections; the Committee also develops Operational Guidelines describing the way the PNSO implements the Bylaws' principles.
Click to view the 2007 committee membership roster.
Learn more about the PNSO's shared governance model through the following links:
