Nursing assignment patterns and patient outcomes.

This article analyzes nursing assignment patterns and patient outcomes critically and comprehensively. Synthesizing empirical data over the past eight years, patient outcomes such as patient satisfaction, and quality of care were examined in association with the main nursing assignment patterns encountered in the literature: case, functional, team, primary and modular. The research results examined do not clearly delineate one assignment pattern or another and it remains illusive, from this analysis, to answer the question most often asked of administrators: "What type of organizational mode would best contribute to the quality of care?" However, this analysis should lead towards decisional impetus for the implementation of new systems of delivery of care, in the present context of limited resources and nursing shortage.