Readiness for organisational change among general practice staff

Increasing demands on general practice to manage chronic disease may warrant organisational change at the practice level. Staff's readiness for organisational change can act as a facilitator or barrier to implementing interventions aimed at organisational change.

To explore general practice staff readiness for organisational change and its association with staff and practices characteristics.

This is a cross-sectional study of practices in three Australian states involved in a randomised control trial on the effectiveness of an intervention to enhance the role of non-general practitioner staff in chronic disease management. Readiness for organisational change, job satisfaction and practice characteristics were assessed using questionnaires.

502 staff from 58 practices completed questionnaires. Practice characteristics were not associated with staff readiness for change. A multilevel regression analysis showed statistically significant associations between staff readiness for organisational change (range 1 to 5) and having a non-clinical staff role (vs general practitioner; B=-0.315; 95% CI -0.47 to -0.16; p<0.001), full-time employment (vs part-time; B=0.175, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.29; p<0.01) and lower job satisfaction (B=-0.277, 95% CI -0.40 to -0.15; p<0.001).

The results suggest that different approaches are needed to facilitate change which addresses the mix of practice staff. Moderately low job satisfaction may be an opportunity for organisational change.