Effects of nursing power and organizational trust on nurse’s responsiveness and orientation to patient needs

Aim: To assess the relationship among perceived nursing group power, organizational trust and patient orientation and identify patient orientation predictors. Background: Nurses and nursing organizations should use all resources to give care. Methods: Survey data were collected from 193 nurses at six acute care hospitals in South Korea. Characteristics of hospitals and nurses were analysed using t tests, one-way ANOVAs and regression models. Results: The means for perceived nursing group power, organizational trust and patient orientation were 3.71 (SD± 0.58), 3.22 (SD± 0.83) and 3.94 (SD± 0.53), respectively. Multiple regression analysis revealed that 40% of the variance in patient orientation was explained by perceived nursing group power, organizational trust and work experience. Conclusion: Hospitals should increase nursing group power and improve organizational trust to enhance patient orientation. Hospital executives and nurse managers should work to enhance nursing group power and positive perceptions of organizational trust, which could contribute to patient orientation.