Nursing experiences of clinical governance implementation: a qualitative study

Abstract

Purpose – Clinical governance (CG) was used as a driver to improve safety and quality of healthcare. CG implementing is a change in health system and all the stakeholders must be participating. The purpose of this paper is to study nurses’ experience about CG movement in Tabriz hospitals. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study using Focus Group Discussions (FGD) was done. Purposeful Sampling was used to select the objectives including 65 participants. Actually seven FGD’s were held. Content analysis was used to extract the meaningful themes. Findings – It is revealed that nurses are the focal point in CG implementation in hospitals. Low commitment of managers and lack of physicians’ contribution was experienced by nurses. However, personnel education and development and patient safety have got more attention. Blame culture and increased work stress was reported as challenges. Originality/value – CG as a change in healthcare system, especially in low- and middle-income countries, is faced by several challenges and its implementation would have different experiences. Nursing staff, the major group in hospitals, would be having interesting experiences through CG. Their practical opinions could guide the policy makers to employ proper plans to effectively implement CG. Considering the result of this study in practice would lead to improve CG implementation.