Supportive Clinical Practice Environments Associated With Patient-Centered Care.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice
• Health Services Research
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Organizational supports in clinical settings are essential for effective healthcare delivery.
• Nurse practitioners (NPs) play a vital role in patient care, but their ability to provide patient-centered care may be hindered by practice environments.
• Integrating patient preferences is a key component of patient-centered care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between clinical practice environments and nurse practitioners' integration of patient preferences.
• To identify factors within practice environments that support or impede patient-centered care by NPs.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey design was employed.
• Data were collected from 1,571 nurse practitioners across practices in four states.
• Practice environments were classified as good, mixed, or poor based on organizational supports.

Main Results:

• Three-quarters of NPs reported frequent integration of patient preferences into clinical care.
• Only 23.6% of practices were classified as good practice environments.
• NPs in good practice environments were significantly more likely to integrate patient preferences (Odds Ratio = 2.3, p < .001).

Conclusions:

• Good clinical practice environments are positively associated with nurse practitioners' integration of patient preferences.
• Improving organizational supports within clinical settings may enhance patient-centered care provided by NPs.
• Further research is needed to explore specific environmental factors that facilitate patient preference integration.