Patient-centric workplace culture: a balancing act for nursing leaders

Abstract

In Australia and globally, developing a patient-centric workplace culture is an ongoing challenge. Nurse managers must reflect on what a balanced functioning of patient-centric workplace culture entails and how to develop it in a context constrained by rising healthcare costs. This study has investigated nurses’ perspective of the association between a patient-centric workplace culture and practical issues such as nurse staffing and perceived quality of nursing care. A mixed methods study design involved sequential (equal status and partially mixed) data gathering from nurses in public hospitals in NSW, Australia. First, a survey questionnaire was employed and yielded 136 responses after adjustment for missing data. This data was analysed using descriptive analysis techniques in SPSS. Then 21 self-nominated nurse managers were interviewed face to face. This qualitative data was transcribed and analysed for recurring themes using a continuous comparative method (CCM). Correlations of patient-centric workplace culture, with nurse staffing (rS = .655) and perceived quality of nursing care (rS = .593) were moderate. Correlation between nurse staffing and perceived quality of nursing care (rS = .410) also existed. Analysis of the interview data resulted in two major themes: the first theme confirmed the association between the three constructs of patient-centric workplace culture, nurse staffing and perceived quality of nursing care. The second theme identified gaps in embedding the espoused patient-centric workplace culture. The study revealed that a patient-centric workplace culture could facilitate positive relationships between nurse staffing and the perceived quality of nursing care. This would happen when patient-centric workplace culture focuses on proactive change management, teamwork and prioritises patient care and adequate nurse staffing. A critical need for nurse managers is to become positive leaders, who can build and embed a patient-centric workplace culture in today’s resource constrained environment.