Can Checklists Solve Our Ward Round Woes? A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Health Services Research
• Surgical Quality Improvement

Background:

• Accurate surgical ward round documentation is essential for quality clinical care.
• Checklists are a proposed method to enhance ward round documentation.
• This review evaluates literature on checklist use in surgical ward rounds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and evaluate the existing literature on the use of checklists to improve surgical ward round documentation.
• To assess the impact of checklists on the completeness and accuracy of information recorded during surgical ward rounds.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO.
• Included studies were observational, focusing on surgical subspecialties and reporting documentation rates.
• Studies were assessed for risk of bias using duplicate review processes.

Main Results:

• Nine single-center observational studies across seven surgical specialties were included.
• Documentation rates for 4-23 parameters improved in 8 out of 9 studies.
• A high risk of bias was noted due to the observational nature of the included studies.

Conclusions:

• Ward round checklists show potential as tools for improving inpatient care and safety.
• Currently, there is a lack of high-level evidence demonstrating the definitive effectiveness of checklists in surgical ward round documentation.
• High-quality research is imperative to establish the efficacy and impact of these checklists.