Use of the Council Health Survey to Assess Shared Governance in a Pediatric Hospital During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This project used the Council Health Survey to evaluate the effectiveness of shared governance councils in a children’s hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. A SWOT analysis was performed to assess the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats regarding council health and to inform strategies to sustain the shared governance environment. The well-established shared governance infrastructure allowed the organization to rapidly pivot council operations to sustain nurse engagement while balancing the unprecedented staffing and resource challenges of the pandemic. Organizations must remain flexible and innovative to maintain an environment supportive of nurse empowerment and shared governance during public health emergencies.