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

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% (R(2) = 0.02) of a decreased health status, 22% (R(2) = 0.05) of pain/discomfort and 13% (R(2) = 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.