Consensus management as a pattern of care within a general surgical ward.

This paper describes changes in the pattern of care delivery in a general surgical ward. The results reported are from the pilot study which was designed to establish that a model other than the team leader model was possible within this setting. Data was collected from staff regarding their perceptions of the changes and also from patients regarding their perceptions of the quality of their care. The research showed that a patient centred, consensus management pattern of care was the preferred choice by staff. Patient opinion surveys and staff evaluations supported the greater continuity in care of the patients in the trial group as compared to the control group. Initial nursing assessment and planning of nursing care were significantly better (p greater than 0.05) within the trial group as compared to the control group when measured utilising a standardised quality assurance tool.