High census, low staffing, and competing leader priorities are causing some facilities to suspend leader rounding on patients, but at what cost? Have expectations about safety and patient experience related to value-based purchasing and reimbursement suddenly changed? Can facilities afford to leave ‘money on the table’ from sub-par patient satisfaction data or severe patient safety events that cost thousands of dollars?

Far too often I see organizations take a one size fits all approach with their leadership rounding practices meaning they set the same expectations and process design across all patient populations. While this may be the quick way to launch leadership rounding It may not yield the results you’re hoping to get, and leaders could become disengaged quickly. Instead, consider each of the areas you have chosen to round on and think about leadership rounding through the patient’s eyes.

For over 15 years, hourly rounding, when embraced by all levels of staff within an acute care facility, has been recognized as an industry best practice to reduce patient falls, decrease call light frequency, and improve patient experience perceptions, particularly around nurse responsiveness.  These outcomes are achieved when rounds are conducted consistently, e.g. every 1-2 hours, and purposefully, i.e. with intention, connection and standard activities from within the patient room. 

Many of today's healthcare providers were small children when the U.S. government first dipped their toe into the healthcare patient satisfaction survey. In 2002 and 2003, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) worked collaboratively to create the first HCAHPS survey for inpatients.  This was followed by the approval of the 27-question survey by the National Quality Forum (NQF) in 2005 and implementation by CMS in 2006. The first data submissions were in 20081.  Additional programs evolved for use in other care settings.  

This past month, NRC Health published an article highlighting how Bryan Health leveraged rounding data from the Nobl Rounding Platform and real-time patient feedback from NRC Health to provide personalized care to patients. The article shared the innovative ways the health system is harnessing the power of patient feedback to understand and predict patient experience and satisfaction scores.

As an active member of the American Organization of Nursing Leadership (AONL) and the American Nurses Association (ANA), I have direct access to the latest ‘nursing news’ from across the nation.  The July 2022 issue¹ of the American Nurse Journal featured an article by Jodi Waddoups, related to active nursing professional engagement. She encouraged nurses to find their voice and to trust their instincts.  The article provided strategies for all levels of nursing to improve nurse engagement.