Acute care delivery systems are in a state of crisis. Financial constraints imposed by health care reform have caused many hospitals to reorganize services and downsize staff. Much of this redesign has been done without benefit of empirical testing. The purpose of this research is to test alternative organization theories Perrow's framework for organizational analysis, structural contingency theory, and sociotechnical systems theory for best fit with quality patient and organization outcomes. Five patient outcomes, failure to rescue, complications, mortality, patient falls, medication administration errors and one organizational outcome, cost per case mix adjusted adjusted discharge will be measured. An ex post facto cross-sectional quantitative research design will be used to understand the relationships among the phenomena of interest. Causal modeling will be used to test for causation among the model variables.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
5F31NR007480-03
Application #
6402006
Study Section
National Institute of Nursing Research Initial Review Group (NRRC)
Program Officer
Bryan, Yvonne E
Project Start
2001-08-01
Project End
Budget Start
2001-08-01
Budget End
2002-02-28
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$13,151
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Arizona
Department
Type
Schools of Nursing
DUNS #
City
Tucson
State
AZ
Country
United States
Zip Code
85721
Brewer, Barbara B (2006) Relationships among teams, culture, safety, and cost outcomes. West J Nurs Res 28:641-53