Ask the Expert
Question:
I currently 2 units with 106 employees with no assistant managers. I have 59 beds. When you talk about rounding are you saying round on each patient every day? Do you have some pointers with this many beds? My charge nurses round.
Answer:
The best practice is to have a nursing leader (either you or one of your charge nurses) round on each patient daily. If this is not feasible given your patient population and the role of the charge nurses you will want to focus on connecting with each patient upon admission so you are able to introduce yourself, manage up the staff, and provide them with your contact information so they can connect with you if there are any issues or concerns during their stay. If your charge nurses are also rounding on patients I would have them focus on those who are past the first 24-48 hours of their admission and to have them validate the things your staff is doing to provide very good/excellent care is occurring on a consistent basis. It is important to observe the charge nurses while they round to validate they are conducting “leadership” rounds rather than “clinical” rounds-in my experience a charge nurse who has not been trained to round for outcomes will ask questions such as “how are you feeling” and “do you have any questions” and they will also provide care because it is their comfort zone and they have not been trained how to round for outcomes. When you or your charge nurses round for outcomes you will accomplish the following outcomes:
- Inform the patient of the hospital’s goal
- Manage up staff
- Reinforce actions that support the provision of very good/excellent care
- Hardwire key behaviors (hourly rounding, bedside shift report, AIDET, etc)
- Connect staff back to purpose, worthwhile work and making a difference
- Proactive service recovery
Here are some resources to assist you with utilizing this behavior to improve the patient experience and provide your staff with feedback on the are they are providing to your patients:
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