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By Steven BrittainSpecial to NurseWeek 
Seton Hospital Nursing Congress
As healthcare facilities across the country struggle to find and retain the most highlyqualified nurses, the shared governance model practiced at the Seton Family of Hospitalsin Central Texas continues to provide a distinct advantage over the competition and serveas an invaluable recruitment resource.When current chief nursing officer Joyce Batcheller, RN, MSN, CNAA, arrived atSeton nearly 13 years ago, she found an intricate system of hospitals with a nursing staff that was in desperate need of organization and voice.The Seton Family of Hospitals, centered in Austin, TX and the surrounding areas,includes five urban acute care hospitals, two rural hospitals, a mental health hospital,several strategically located health facilities that provide medical care for well patientsand three primary care clinics for the uninsured. The Seton Family of Hospitals is theleading provider of healthcare services in Central Texas, serving an 11-county populationof 1.4 million. Four out of every ten overnight patients in the region receive their care at aSeton facility.It was imperative that a nursing staff so large be allowed to work together in atrue shared governance environment so that decision-making and collaboration includednurses at all levels.Batcheller was the perfect person for the job. Having implemented a full sharedgovernance model at her previous leadership role at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia,Batcheller, who has worked in nursing for more than 30 years, hoped to instill the same philosophy at Seton.“I wanted to bring the same principles we had implemented in Virginia to Seton,”she said. “I wanted staff input in developing hospital-wide solutions. I wanted a way to bring the best of the best together from each site within the Seton Family of Hospitals sothat we could standardize policies, procedures, equipment and anything else pertaining toour nursing staff across the spectrum of our institutions.”
A governing body is born
In May 1996, Batcheller’s brain child became a reality when the first meeting of theSeton Nursing Congress took place. More than ten years later, the Nursing Congress is asstrong as ever and is a vital component of hospital operations, Batcheller said.“We have staff members who were involved with the Congress on the very firstday who are still as involved as ever,” she said.Seton's Nursing Congress, which can have anywhere between 55 and 60 membersat a given time, offers the nursing staff a monthly forum to talk about professional andclinical issues, provides a mechanism for their input and feedback and helps generateopportunities for the nursing staff to develop leadership skills.According to Batcheller, the Congress evaluates and advances nursing practicewith the goal of meeting or exceeding patient-care expectations, and achieving successful patient outcomes. It is sponsored by the Nursing Executive Council, and also includeseight specialty-nursing councils and two support councils, which work together to
 
address clinical and professional practice issues; network-wide consistency of nursing practice; research and regulatory compliance; standardization and cost efficiencies; andnursing quality assessment and improvement.The Nursing Executive Council - chaired by the chief nursing officer - iscomprised of lead nursing directors, and the chair and vice-chair of the NursingCongress. The Council is responsible for the strategic planning and oversight of theCongress, and holds an annual retreat to establish goals and develop improvementstrategies for the nursing division.Through the Nursing Congress, staff and leaders work together to continuouslyimprove communication, work environment, patient safety, orientation and professionaldevelopment.
Free exchange of ideas
Pamela Novak, RN, has been a nurse for the past 27 years and currently works in theEndoscopy department at Seton Medical Center in Austin. She also serves as the currentchair of the Nursing Congress. The most engaging aspect of the Nursing Congress, Novak says, is the environment of open communication and the free exchange of ideasthat it has created.“Obviously the Congress has been a huge resource to the nursing staff, but I think it’s become just as much of a resource for our administration,” Novak said. “All lines of communication are open and it has led to our nursing staff having no fear of management. They know that people are listening, and though every idea might not getacted upon, at least there a forum in which to express them.” Novak added it’s not uncommon for the chief executive or the chief financialofficers to attend the monthly forum. In addition to the regular CNO update at eachmeeting, the presence of additional executive leadership provides the nursing staff insightinto what the administration deals with on a daily basis.“It’s further proof that the administration at Seton values our opinions and won’thesitate to engage the staff members who work on the frontlines,” she said.Just as important as having access to executive leadership is simply having accessto one another, says Courtney Payne, RN, CCRN, a critical care nurse at BrackenridgeHospital, Seton’s trauma-specific facility in Austin.In a hospital system as large as Seton, there are nurses who cover every specialtyand who know the industry inside and out, she said. The Nursing Congress ensures thatnurses from all of Seton’s hospitals are exposed to this expertise and can see how thedecision-making process affects everyone. Attempting to establish a network-wide viewof Seton instead of simply site-specific ones is vital to the success of the Congress, shesaid.“We have so many specialties working together that it’s impossible for you to not be in a mode where you are constantly learning something new from your colleagues,”said Payne, who served as chair of the Congress in 2005. “It allows us to make policiesthat benefit everyone and develop plans that are the best for the patients because we’veconsidered the entire spectrum of care. We’re broadening the horizons of our nurses andgiving them such considerable control of their own practice. Giving your staff resources,information and contacts with people from backgrounds they normally wouldn’t get towork with benefits everyone from the nurses themselves to the patients in the hospital.”
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