Patient-centered interprofessional collaborative care: factors associated with bedside interprofessional rounds.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Medical Education Research
• Interprofessional Collaboration

Background:

• Hospital-based medicine requires interprofessional collaborative care (IPCC) for optimal quality.
• Bedside interprofessional rounds, involving physicians and nurses discussing care at the patient's bedside, are not well-studied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the incidence and duration of bedside interprofessional rounds in internal medicine teaching services.
• To identify factors influencing the occurrence and time spent during these rounds.

Main Methods:

• An observational descriptive study involving internal medicine attending physicians.
• Daily electronic surveys collected data on rounding characteristics from November 2012 to June 2013.
• Statistical analyses included descriptive, Kruskal-Wallis, and multivariable logistic regression.

Main Results:

• Bedside interprofessional rounds occurred with 64% of patients, lasting a median of 8.0 minutes per encounter.
• Factors associated with increased occurrence included senior residents, weekdays, smaller team census size (≤11), and attending physicians with ≤4 years' experience.
• Increased time spent during encounters was linked to attending physicians with ≤15 years' experience and weekdays.

Conclusions:

• Findings identify key factors influencing the frequency and duration of bedside interprofessional collaborative care.
• Systematic adjustments in team size, resident scheduling, and attending physician training/staffing may be necessary to promote IPCC.