[Description of the organizational climate in primary care teams in an autonomous community]

To describe the organisational atmosphere (OA) in primary care teams (PCTs) in an autonomous community.

Crossover and observational.

PCTs.

A questionnaire on OA was administered after prior validation to all the doctors, nurses and social workers at 29 PCTs.

The OA in the different teams was described, comprehensively and by dimensions: team-work, cohesion and commitment. Multiple regression was used to find the relationship between OA (dependent variable) and the independent variables: age of the professionals, years of functioning of the PCT, teaching status, type, location (rural or urban) and profession (coordinators, doctors, nurses, clerical staff). Overall reply rate was 77.5% (402 professionals): it was higher for coordinators. Average score on the questionnaire was 3.53 (SD = 0.56): it was higher for nurses. Results by dimensions were: team-work 3.67 (SD = 0.59), cohesion 3.54 (SD = 0.71) and commitment 3.37 (SD = 0.72). OA was seen as better by teaching teams (p < 0.02), both overall and for the teamwork and cohesion dimensions. Coordinators had better self-perception of the OA, both overall and by dimensions (p < 0.01). Teams who had worked together for a long time thought the atmosphere was worse. The type of job and the number of years doing it did not affect the perception of OA.

1. The evaluation of OA is generally positive, though it can certainly be improved. 2. Perception is not uniform, as coordinators and teaching teams see the OA as better. 3. Teams working together for many years see the OA as worse.