Improving Efficiency on a Pediatric Hospital Medicine Service With Schedule-Based Family-Centered Rounds

Inconsistencies in the timing and process of family-centered rounds can contribute to inefficiencies in patient care, inconsistent nursing participation, and variable end times. Through the implementation of schedule-based rounds, our aims were to (1) start 90% of rounds encounters within 30 minutes of the scheduled time, (2) increase nursing presence from 79% to >90%, and (3) increase the percentage of rounds completed by 11:20 am from 0% to 80% within 1 year.

We used quality improvement methods to implement and evaluate a scheduled rounds process on a pediatric hospital medicine service at a university-affiliated children's hospital. Interventions included customization of an electronic health record-linked scheduling tool, daily schedule management by the senior resident, real-time rounds notification to nurses, improved education on rounding expectations, streamlined rounding workflow, and family notification of rounding time. Data were collected daily and run charts were used to track metrics.

One year after implementation, a median of 96% of rounds encounters occurred within 30 minutes of scheduled rounding time, nursing presence increased from a median of 79% to 94%, and the percentage of rounds completed by 11:20 am increased from a median of 0% to 86%. Rounds end times were later with a higher patient census.

We improved the efficiency of our rounding workflow and bedside nursing presence through a scheduled rounds process facilitated by an electronic health record-linked scheduling tool.