The impact of organizational culture on the outcome of hospital care: After the implementation of person-centred care

Abstract

Aims: To measure the effect of organizational culture on health outcomes of patients 3 months after discharge. Methods: a quantitative study using Organizational Values Questionnaire (OVQ) and a health-related quality of life instrument (EQ-5D). A total of 117 nurses, 69% response rate, and 220 patients answered the OVQ and EQ-5D, respectively. Results: The regression analysis showed that; 16% (R² = 0.02) of a decreased health status, 22% (R² = 0.05) of pain/discomfort and 13% (R² = 0.02) of mobility problems could be attributed to the combination of open system (OS) and Human Relations (HR) cultural dimensions, i.e., an organizational culture being dominated by flexibility. Conclusions: The results from the present study tentatively indicated an association between an organizational culture and patients’ health related quality of life 3 months after discharge. Even if the current understanding of organizational culture, which is dominated by flexibility, is considered favourable when implementing a new health care model, our results showed that it could be hindering instead of helping the new health care model in achieving its objectives.