Primary nursing and team nursing are two different ways of organizing nurses' work in hospital wards. This study examined whether primary nursing is associated with lower sickness absence rates than team nursing is.
Altogether 1213 nurses from 13 primary nursing wards and 13 team nursing wards participated in a 3-year observational study. The nurses' sickness absence records were linked with information on the organization of nursing in the wards.
After adjustment for demographic and ward characteristics, primary nursing, compared with team nursing, was associated with 26-42% higher annual rates of short (1-3 days) spells of sickness absence (P3 days) absences, depending on the year (P