[Joint clinical rounds in the ICU and satisfaction of the professionals]

It is unknown if multidisciplinary clinical rounds provide a greater degree of satisfaction among the professionals than the traditional work methods.The objective was to compare the satisfaction of the physicians and nurses who evaluate the patients jointly with those of the professionals who do so separately and transmit the information «at bedside» (traditional method). An anonymous survey that examined eleven dimensions of expectations, motivation and satisfaction on the common work method was used. Greater global satisfaction was observed in regards to the joint work method both with the substitute nurses (8.3 ± 0.8 versus 3.1 ± 2.8; p < 0.001) as well as those of the staff (7.2 ± 1.3 versus 2.1 ± 1.3; p = 0.01). In the remaining dimensions examined, the scores of the professionals who participated in the joint clinical rounds were also significantly better. Among the physicians, there were no significant differences in the different dimensions or in the global satisfaction.As a conclusion, it can be stated that the joint and consensual work method for the assessment of the patients produces an improvement in all the dimensions of satisfaction, expectations, and professional performance in the nursing area that is not detected among the physicians.