Shared GovernanceKategorie: Książki i literatura, Polityka Liczba wpisów: 1, liczba wizyt: 1794 |
Nadesłane przez: monicadennis 13-04-2021 15:06
More than eight hundred hours of off-campus clinical placement are required to become a nurse. The facilities for clinical placement include private hospitals, public hospitals, schools, community health centers, and mental health services among others. Each category contains several institutions that offer clinical placement for the students of the educational institution I currently study in. While students can choose which sector they want to work in every semester, they cannot choose a specific institution that they think will suit their needs. The educational establishments managements assigns institutions, and students have to comply.
To help mitigate this inconvenience, I propose a system that will allow students to actively participate in the decision-making process related to institutional placement. The system will function according to the principles of shared government. Students will form committees that will operate under the guidance of the heads of their departments. During the application process, students will state which institutions they would like to attend that semester. A select committee composed of students will then allocate institutions for clinical placement in accordance with the desires of applicants.
If the number of students who choose a particular institution outnumbers available slots, a meeting between committee members and affected students will take place. During the meeting, students will be able to review the list of available institutions and to discuss alternatives among themselves. In case students do not reach an agreement, they will have an opportunity to plead their case, after which voting will take place. The decision arrived upon in the course of voting will be final. Consequently, the system will help reduce the time spent on the allocation of institutions for clinical placement each semester.
During the voting process, each voting member will have a single vote regardless of his or her year of study. A student will win if he or she gains the majority of votes. Therefore, the system will allow to equitably distribute available slots to students in a manner that is convenient to them. The department, in its turn, will provide essential information and guidance.
The composition of the voting committee will change every semester. The department will randomly select students to be on the committee. Each student will be selected to the committee only once. Thus, the system will ensure that as many students as possible get a chance to be the members of the committee before they graduate.
In case a student has a complaint concerning the allocated clinical placement, a student will have an opportunity to address the head of the department and plead his or her case. If the head of the department determines that the decision is unjust, the head will be able to call for a review under a new committee. Hence, the system will allow to review allegedly unfair decisions of the committee. Each student will have the right to file one appeal every semester.
The proposed solution applies the principles of shared governance. The application of these principles is necessary since it:
promotes partnerships among students;
ensures equity by initiating the vote policy;
ensures accountability by means of the review process;
ensures ownership of the decision-making process by means of the regular change of the composition of the committee.
The implementation of the aforementioned solution will change the cultural dynamics of the institution. The right to choose the institution for clinical placement will empower students. It will act as a legitimate conduit to gain control of professional practice as students will help make decisions that could determine their professional life. Finally, the proposed solution will extend influence previously held exclusively by the head of the department to students. While previously students had only to comply with the decision of the institutions management, the new system allows students to decide what institution to choose. Even if conflicts arise, a new committee consisting of students will help students reach an agreement.