Benefits and outcomes of staff nurses' participation in decision making.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relations among staff nurses' participation in phases of the decision-making process related to decisions in nursing practice, competencies of nurse manager leadership, and nurse-physician collaboration.

METHODS: This study is a secondary analysis of the Variations in Nursing Practice Model study. The data were derived from the responses of staff nurses to a questionnaire asking about their participation in decision making, their perception of the competency of nurse manager leadership, and their collaboration with physicians.

RESULTS: Nurse-physician collaboration contributed to greater participation in all phases of both caregiving and condition-of-work decisions. The competency of nurse manager leadership had a small but significant positive correlation with participation in decision making, but it did not have a significant effect on phases of participation in both types of decisions.

CONCLUSIONS: The study findings provide evidence to support the relations among an organizational structure, an organizational process, and a provider process of healthcare. Further research is needed to clarify the relation among structure, process, and specific outcomes.