Nurse leader rounding on patients has a strong influence on issue identification and engagement of inpatients prior to discharge. At Nobl, we recognize the unit type differences that exist within acute care facilities, big and small. At a recent onsite visit with a large client, the quarterly data review revealed a “healthy rivalry” between the AVPs of the Medical-Surgical and Critical Care areas for top compliance with rounding goals by nurse managers. For the first time this year, the critical care area leaders were outperforming the medical surgical leaders.

Employee rounding is a powerful tool to form and maintain relationships in the workplace between leaders and their frontline staff. Progressive, participatory leaders began rounding or “checking in” with their employees long before the relationship between patient satisfaction and employee satisfaction was validated by data and research.

As  new hospitals launch the Nobl Rounding platform we often encounter questions about the role of charge nurses in hourly patient rounding as well as leader rounding on patients. Here are some different ways to utilize charge nurses, depending on the role they fill within your organization.  

Leader rounding allows staff to proactively connect with patients and families. It fosters unit communication and reinforces a commitment to family-centered care and excellence in patient experience. Along with identifying opportunities for improvement, leader rounding also provides a way to recognize individual staff members who receive positive patient feedback.

The emergency department often is a patient’s first encounter with a hospital. This poses a unique opportunity for departments to get the patient’s experience off to the right start.

As leaders of these departments, we must never forget that small things do matter and that a patient’s experience is the sum of all their experiences and interactions. In this article, we are going to share two different strategies to understand the voice of your patients and employees that visit and work in your emergency department.