Clinical specialty and organizational features of acute hospital wards.
Ward clinical specialty is a variable which has been largely ignored in studies of nursing organization and effectiveness. Analysis of data collected from a nationally representative sample of 83 acute medical, surgical and orthopaedic hospital wards demonstrates that while wards had similar staffing resources, differences exist in the likelihood of adopting a nursing organizational system with devolved authority, in nurses' views of prevailing hierarchical attitudes, and their perceived influence over a range of organizational features of the ward. Medical wards were more likely to have developed organizational practices associated with increasing nursing autonomy.
Adams
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Postgraduate Research School, European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, England.
Bond
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D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004739:England; D006748:Hospital Departments / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009985:Orthopedics; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital