Differentiated practice, patient-oriented care and quality of work in a hospital in the Netherlands

This article describes a quantitative study of the relationship between differentiated practice on the one side and patient-oriented care and quality of work on the other. Nursing wards where differentiated practice has been implemented (intervention group) have been compared with wards where differentiated practice has not been implemented (reference group). The research variables with regard to differentiated practice, patient-oriented care and quality of work have been measured by questionnaires. Subjects were 68 nurses and six supervisors from six nursing wards from one hospital. The results show that the extent to which differentiated practice had been implemented varied between the wards. With regard to patient-oriented care differences have been found between the intervention and reference group on the variables patient assignment and use of the nursing process, but not on the variables of tasks and communication. Concerning quality of work, differences have been found on: social support from the supervisor, social-emotional leadership and health complaints. Rank order correlations between differentiated practice and patient-oriented care and between differentiated practice and quality of work were not significant. Practical implications with regard to the use of differentiated practice and implications for further research are discussed.