Ward Rounds

I've just read a joint report by the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Physicians called: Ward rounds in Medicine: Principles for Best Practice (Published in October 2012). Here is my summary of the most important learning outcomes:

Medical Ward Rounds

1.     Opportunity for the multi-disciplinary team to come together to review the patients’ condition and develop a plan for care while facilitating the full engagement of the patient/carer in making decisions about their care.

2.     Opportunity for information sharing and joint learning.

Barriers/Challenges

1.     Communication - multiple teams may be responsible for a patients’ care, frequent staffing changes e.g. rotations, and frequent patient transfer between wards/teams may all have a detrimental effect on communication within the team.

2.     Ward rounds may be inadequately prioritized.

3.     The patient may need support (e.g. from a nurse/SLT) to articulate their views.

Recommendations for ward rounds

1.     A senior nurse should be present at every bedside patient review and nursing staff should be informed of all key decisions.

2.     Individual roles/responsibilities should be allocated at the start of ward round to engage all MDT members. Preparation for ward round should include a re-round briefing and the identification of staffing issues/ adverse factors relating to the patients.

3.     Patients should be encouraged to prepare in advance for ward rounds and patients/carers/relatives should be provided with a ‘summary sheet’ detailing information discussed in ward round.

4.     All members of the ward round team should be introduced to the patient.

5.     Board rounds – can facilitate MDT input and planning for discharge.