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Nurses must have more seats at the table

Hospitals are nursing institutions. If patients didn't need the 24/7 nursing care that hospitals provide, they would go to outpatient centers. In order reflect the fact that hospitals are nursing institutions and so they can provide excellence in the care they are most responsible for providing, hospitals must be run by a majority of nurses. Yet most hospitals have between 0-1 nurses on their boards of trustees. This leads to nursing institutions being run by people who are not nurses and decisions that affect the care nurses provide that undermine that care. Such structures put patients at risk. Nurses must work to regain control of the hospitals they once ran to improve patient care and protect patient health. Below are some articles making the case for more nurses to attain decision-making roles in hospitals.

The Case for a Nurse Trustee: Boards need to make room at the table for the voice of patient care. by Charlotte Huff, September 8, 2014, Trustee magazine, American Hospital Association, pdf archive.

Enabling nurses to lead change: The orientation experiences of nurses to boards, by AnnMarie Walton, Donna Lake, Connie Mullinix, Deborah Allen, and Kathi Mooney, Nursing Outlook. 2015 Mar-Apr; 63(2): 110�116, pdf archive.

A place at the table: Positioning nurses where healthcare decisions are made, by Tamara Rose and Mary Nies, Nursing Management January 2016, Volume :47 Number 1, page 42- 46, pdf archive.

Preparing nurses for seats at the table: Board Leadership Institute to convene again in Indianapolis, by Dale Beatty, Angela McBride, Daniel Pesut, Christine Mackey-Ross, Kimberly Harper, and Patricia E. Thompson, Reflections on Nursing Leadership February 11, 2015, Vol. 41, No. 1, pdf archive.

Nurse on board: Board basics -- ?Chapter from a new STTI book, by Connie Curran, Reflections on Nursing Leadership, November 23, 2015, Vol. 41, No. 4

Nurse Leaders Bring Strong Knowledge of Clinical Care and Other Skills to Board Rooms, by Kristy Reuss, PhD, RN, The Future of Nursing, Campaign for Action, December 22, 2014, pdf archive.

To improve health care, bring in the nurses � stat, By Susan B. Hassmiller and Susan Reinhard, The Buffalo News, December 28, 2014, pdf archive.


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