2009 Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages 5-12
The present study was undertaken to identify elements needed for nurses to become involved in various levels of decision making processes as members of an organization through analyzing the activities of nurses serving as the vice presidents of hospitals. The study involved 8 nurses serving as the vice presidents of hospitals who cooperated with our network sampling. Data on their activities in the decision-making processes of their hospitals were collected by semi-structured interview and were analyzed in a qualitative inductive manner. The study revealed 11 categories of vice president nurse activities in policy planning processes, including "collection of objective data to confirm the intentions of employees," "setting clear numerical goals and deadlines for realization of policies" and so on. During policy adopting processes, 5 categories of activities were extracted, including "promotion of understanding of the proposed policy by members of the decision making team through presentation of objective data", "presentation of the necessity of the policy during decision making meetings" and so on. Analysis of these activities allowed us to isolate the following elements necessary for nurses to become involved in decision making. The elements needed in the policy planning processes were "setting goals and deadlines on the basis of data", "devising concrete plans, incorporating proposals from employees", "adequate adjustment and coordination to reach consensus", "requesting cooperation of competent personnel in an appropriate way", "presentation of clear views and holding negotiations towards authorization of the second best plan" and "active exploration of related information." The elements indispensable for policy making processes were "persuading the conference members through explanation of the policy's usefulness", "determining the human resources to be involved in the policy" and "acquisition of roles and positions."
