Clinical Governance

Running head: CLINICAL GOVERNANCE 1
Clinical Governance
Name
Institution

CLINICAL GOVERNANCE 2
Clinical Governance
Introduction
Clinical governance is defined as the process through which healthcare institutions
enhance their levels of responsibility and accountability for pertinent organizational activities
such as enhancing the quality of the services offered, promoting high standards and instilling
systems aimed at fostering clinical outcomes that are above board through institutionalization of
operational environments that advocate for flourishing of excellence (Rowley, Clares, Poll,
Thomas, and White, 2017). The processes of controlling and preventing infections in healthcare
settings occupy a central position in clinical governance. According to Jackson, Lowton, and
Griffiths (2014), Europe incurred over €7 Billion as the healthcare costs associated with
infections acquired in hospital settings in 2011. However, Anderson et al. (2014) explain that
despite the policy frameworks put in place to minimize the financial, social and economic
burdens associated with the infections that are acquired by patients seeking services, the
contributions made by caregivers is still minimal. The scholars reveal that while nurses in acute
care settings raise their levels of concern on ensuring that they stir other stakeholders’ intuitions
to be considered as good and knowledgeable professionals, minimal efforts have been adopted to
ensure that the policies and procedures guiding their endeavors are followed. The caregivers
inculcate their own behavioral positions and justifications for all forms of irrational deviations
from the set institutional policies; an aspect that limits the effectiveness of applying the
principles of clinical governance. On the other hand, AL-Rawajfah (2016) reveals that while
healthcare associated infections have been considered as major challenges in critical hospital
sections such as the intensive care units, they can be controlled through acquisition of effective
frameworks aimed at educating caregivers on the most effective practices. In their study, Lo et

CLINICAL GOVERNANCE 3
al. (2014) demystify that medical institutions can instill the measures of controlling and
preventing infections in hospital settings by adopting efficient collaborative frameworks with
infection control link nurses (ICLNs). In their perspective, the scholars demystify that ICLNs are
better placed to inculcate workplace trainings aimed at acquainting other caregivers with both
technical and psychological skills necessary to alleviate the infections reported in acute care
facilities.
According to Ocampo et al. (2017), clinical performance and evaluation by the use of
nursing care plans plays a significant role in auditing the efficacy, validity and reliability of
healthcare procedures such as identification of outcomes, diagnosis and implementation of the
treatment procedures put in place. On the other hand, Louh et al. (2017) explain that professional
development and management is a pillar of clinical governance aimed at advancing the
healthcare workforce through impartation of the necessary skills and knowledge. Similarly,
incident reporting is considered by Zingg et al. (2017) as an essential component of minimizing
clinical risks based on its effectiveness in identifying the areas of weakness and advancing
platforms on which learning will take place. Lastly, feedback in healthcare settings strengthens
consumer value through inclusion of avenues aimed at evaluating the quality of services offered
based on the clients’ viewpoints. According to Storr et al. (2017), proper implementation of
clinical governance in medical settings is associated with an increase in the quality of services
offered, overall outcomes in patient care, optimal performance and revenue generation.
Summary Table
Author/s (year)
Country
Aims
or
Purpose
Sample/ setting
or
Key stake-holders
Design/
methods
or
Main findings
or
Primary
Strengths and
limitations of the
paper

CLINICAL GOVERNANCE 4
and their roles Type of paper argument
Article
1
Jackson,
Lowton, and
Griffiths (2014).
Country: United
Kingdom
The study proceeds
with the aim of
investigating the
infection prevention
behaviours adopted by
nurses in acute care
settings by prompting
the explanations
offered by nurses for
the traits observed.
Sample = 20
Participants
Both 7 male and 13
female registered
nurses offering their
services in acute
care settings.
Setting =
A local university
based in London
Design =
Interpretive
qualitative study
design.
Methods =
Semi-structured
interviews were
adopted to foster
the process of
collecting data.
Nurses adopt
good
impressions
and disguise as
knowledgeable
practitioners in
order to justify
their reasons
for deviating
from he set
organizational
rules and
regulations.
Deviance was
considered to
be
unreasonable
and adopted as
an aspect of
display
Presentation of
oneself was
Strength:
The researchers’
move to adopt
vignettes to
minimize personal
biases revealed the
strongpoint of the
study.
Limitations
Adoption of a
small sample size
(n = 20) limited
the ability of the
scholars to make
generalizations for
the entire
population of
nurses working in
acute settings
across the globe.