Aug 24 / Michelle van Ryn, PhD, MPH

What Does Research Tell Us About the Relationship Between Organizational Climate and Patient Care and Outcomes?

Morbidity

A positive organizational climate is associated with lower morbidity rates. Hospitals with better work environments saw fewer complications and health declines among patients, indicating that a supportive workplace directly contributes to reducing patient morbidity.

Mortality

A positive organizational climate is linked to reduced mortality rates. Healthcare organizations with cohesive and supportive environments had significantly lower patient death rates, underscoring the importance of workplace culture in life-and-death outcomes.

Safety

A positive organizational climate is found to reduce the occurrence of adverse events, such as medication errors and complications during treatment. This connection underscores the importance of a well-functioning work environment in preventing incidents that can harm patients.

Patient Satisfaction

A positive organizational climate is associated with higher patient satisfaction. Patients in hospitals with better work environments reported more favorable experiences, reflecting the impact of workplace culture on how patients perceive their care.

Cost

A positive organizational climate can lead to cost savings. By reducing adverse events, improving patient safety, and lowering morbidity and mortality rates, healthcare organizations can decrease the financial burden of poor outcomes and inefficient care delivery.

Do you know how YOUR organizational climate compares to other healthcare organizations?

Can you afford not to know?

References

Aiken, L. H., Clarke, S. P., Sloane, D. M., Sochalski, J., & Silber, J. H. (2002). Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction. *JAMA, 288*(16), 1987-1993. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.288.16.1987

Ancarani, A., Di Mauro, C., & Giammanco, M. D. (2009). How are organisational climate models and patient satisfaction related? A competing value framework approach. *Social Science & Medicine, 69*(12), 1813-1818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.09.033

Davenport, D. L., Henderson, W. G., Mosca, C. L., Khuri, S. F., & Mentzer, R. M. (2007). Risk-adjusted morbidity in teaching hospitals correlates with reported levels of communication and collaboration on surgical teams but not with scale measures of teamwork climate, safety climate, or working conditions. *Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 205*(6), 778-784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2007.07.039

Fan, C. J., Pawlik, T. M., Daniels, T., Vernon, N., Banks, K., Westby, P., ... & Wick, E. C. (2016). Association of safety culture with surgical site infection outcomes. *Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 222*(2), 122-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2015.11.008

Mardon, R. E., Khanna, K., Sorra, J., Dyer, N., & Famolaro, T. (2010). Exploring relationships between hospital patient safety culture and adverse events. *Journal of Patient Safety, 6*(4), 226-232. https://doi.org/10.1097/PTS.0b013e3181fd1a00

Stone, P. W., Mooney-Kane, C., Larson, E. L., Pastor, D. K., Zwanziger, J., & Dick, A. W. (2007). Nurse working conditions and patient safety outcomes. *Medical Care, 45*(6), 571-578. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0b013e3180383667