The influence of professional competency, professional commitment, and nursing organizational culture on the person-centered practice of nurses in long-term care hospitals: A cross-sectional study

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the influence of professional competency, professional commitment, and nursing organizational culture on the person-centered practice of nurses in long-term care hospitals. Methods: A total of 131 nurses in seven long-term care hospitals in Daegu city and Kyeongsang province participated in the study. Professional competency, professional commitment, nursing organizational culture, and person-centered practice were measured using the Nurse Professional Competence Short-Form, Professional Commitment Questionnaire, Nursing Organizational Culture scale, and Korean Measure of Person-Directed Care. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: Nurses in long-term care hospitals had mean scores of 4.77±0.84 for professional competency and 4.27±0.89 for professional commitment out of a 1~7 scale and 3.45±0.44 for person-centered practice out of a 1~5 scale. Regarding nursing organizational culture, nurses had the highest score in relation-oriented organizational culture and the lowest score in task-oriented culture. Nurses’ professional competency (β=.59, p<.001) and innovation-oriented culture (β=.36, p<.001) were the factors influencing person-centered practice, which explained the variance of 52.5%. Conclusion: To improve person-centered practice in long-term care hospitals, it is necessary to implement strategies for improving nurses’ professional competency and innovation-oriented nursing organizational culture.