Patient-centric Workplace Culture: A Balancing Act for Nursing Leaders

Nazlee Siddiqui^1, and Anneke Fitzgerald²

¹Australian Institute of Health Services Management, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

²Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Gold Cost, Queensland, Australia

Cite this paper:
Nazlee Siddiqui and Anneke Fitzgerald. Patient-centric Workplace Culture: A Balancing Act for Nursing Leaders. American Journal of Nursing Research. 2017; 5(5):165-172. doi: 10.12691/ajnr-5-5-2

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.

Keywords:
organizational culture nursing leadership patient-centric workplace culture quality of care nurse staffing

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