Background: improving working environment of clinical nurses is a major issue faced by nurse managers and administrators who are challenged to create models of nursing governance and leadership strategies in order to engage clinical nurses in the work. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the professional nursing governance in a selected hospital. Methods: A descriptive research design was conducted at Menoufia University hospital sampling: stratified random sample of 200 nurses were included. Results: The identified professional nursing governance was traditional governance. Conclusion: The lowest mean score was for shared governance among the majority of nurses. Recommendations: Hospital administrators must provide supportive organizational structures and leadership strategies to improve nursing staff involvement in job design, problem solving, conflict resolution, committees and organizational decision making as key component for productive organization in turn lead to safe work environment.