Hospitals' organizational variables and patients' perceptions of individualized nursing care in Finland.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between hospitals' organizational variables and patients' perceptions of individualized care.


BACKGROUND
There is lack of evidence related to the effects that the hospital environment has on patient perceptions of the individuality of care they receive.


METHODS
A cross-sectional design was used. The questionnaire survey data were obtained from 861 (response rate 82%) hospital patients and 35 (100%) nurse managers in Finland. Results An inverse relationship between the size of the hospital and ward and patients' perceptions of individualized care was found. Increased staffing or skill mix failed to predict a higher patient perception of individualized care, but primary nursing care delivery did.


CONCLUSIONS
Instead of increasing the amount of nursing staff, there is a need to improve the quality of the nurse-patient interactions to facilitate individualized care. The generalizability of the study is limited by the regional nature of the setting.
Suhonen
Riitta
R
Health Care District of Forssa, Forssa, Finland. suhonen.riitta@kolumbus.fi
Välimäki
Maritta
M
Katajisto
Jouko
J
Leino-Kilpi
Helena
H
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005387:Finland; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D009746:Nursing, Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000458:organization & administration; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration; D011321:Primary Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires