[Do nurse clinicians influence the working climate and the quality of care? 2. Results]

The second part of this report contains the most important knowledge and the results gained through the study carried out at the Inselspital Berne, Switzerland, concerning the influence a clinical nurse practitioner has on work environment and patient satisfaction. Nurses who had the support of a clinical nurse practitioners had better guidelines at their disposal and got more feedbacks than the others. There were, however, no great differences between the units with a clinical nurse practitioner and those without one regarding communication, motivation for further education and support in difficult patient situations. The motivation for higher education was remarkably high on all units. However, the nurses on the units with a clinical nurse practitioner showed more interest in psychological and social matters and they had according literature at their disposal. The patients were generally satisfied, although there were differences regarding trust of the patients in nurses. Patients of units with a clinical nurse practitioner addressed nurses more frequently and easily with their problems and questions than patients from other units. This case study showed that clinical nurse practitioners play an active and important role concerning teamwork, particularly by giving feedbacks and helping to create an atmosphere of support regarding personal continuing education, using all available resources, discussing patient situations, evaluating them and finding solutions.