A summary of findings of a five-year comparison study of primary and team nursing.

This study compared primary and team nursing in three areas: quality of care, impact on nursing staff, and cost. Eight medical units in one hospital were evaluated. The study was conducted over a four-year period utilizing three phases: one preintervention phase and two postintervention phases. The study used multiple measures including two approaches to analysis of cost. The findings of this study confirm that primary nursing does result in a higher quality of nursing care than team nursing and that nurse retention is improved in primary nursing. In addition, this study shows that, both directly and indirectly, primary nursing reduces costs when compared to team nursing.