Creating a culture of service excellence: empowering nurses within the shared governance councilor model.

Through the shared governance council model, staff nurses at Delnor Community Hospital were empowered in an organization that encouraged professional autonomy over practice, effective communication, and development of leadership skills. Nursing strategic plans were carefully designed and specifically structured to lead to successful implementation of a shared governance model and a new nursing culture of excellence. The shared decision-making structure was the vehicle used to integrate the 14 standards of Magnet Nursing to create a culture of high-quality nursing practice to achieve optimal outcomes. Nursing excellence was further verified by achieving outstanding results in patient, physician, and nurse satisfaction scores and nurse retention.