title: Primary care units in Emilia-Romagna, Italy: an assessment of organizational culture.
abstract: This study investigates the organizational culture and associated characteristics of the newly established primary care units (PCUs)-collaborative teams of general practitioners (GPs) who provide patients with integrated health care services-in the Emilia-Romagna Region (RER), Italy. A survey instrument covering 6 cultural dimensions was administered to all 301 GPs in 21 PCUs in the Local Health Authority (LHA) of Parma, RER; the response rate was 79.1%. Management style, organizational trust, and collegiality proved to be more important aspects of PCU organizational culture than information sharing, quality, and cohesiveness. Cultural dimension scores were positively associated with certain characteristics of the PCUs including larger PCU size and greater proportion of older GPs. The presence of female GPs in the PCUs had a negative impact on collegiality, organizational trust, and quality. Feedback collected through this assessment will be useful to the RER and LHAs for evaluating and guiding improvements in the PCUs.
authors.affiliation: Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Valerie P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Pracilio
authors.affiliation: Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Scott W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Keith
authors.affiliation: Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McAna
authors.affiliation: Local Health Authority, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Local Health Authority, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brianti
authors.affiliation: Local Health Authority, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fabi
authors.affiliation: Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA vittorio.maio@jefferson.edu.
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Maio
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Medical Group Practice Culture Assessment (MGPCA); organizational culture; primary care; primary care units (PCUs)