Using organizational culture to facilitate the change process

Change in health care settings is occurring at an ever-increasing rate. One change is the implementation of new nursing care delivery systems. Although such changes are necessary responses to societal needs, they are not always welcomed by nursing personnel. Current organizational literature suggests that understanding a work group's culture can facilitate the change process. This article reports a qualitative research study that identified the work group culture of a renal unit and shows how the unit used an understanding of its unit culture to ease the change to primary nursing.