Impact of Rounding Setting on the Quality of Medical Trainee Experience

Hospital rounding practices have shifted away from being conducted at the patient's bedside to favor rounding in workrooms. Prior studies assessing learner attitudes toward bedside rounds largely focused on its educational value for residents, with less attention paid to medical students or other relevant domains in the learner experience. We sought to comprehensively capture resident and medical student perceptions of bedside rounds and their effects on various key domains, as well as elucidate common barriers to bedside rounding.

All residents and medical students who participated in teaching rounds in Internal Medicine at one large academic medical center in 2024 were invited to complete a voluntary anonymous survey. Participants also had the opportunity to partake in structured qualitative interviews, which were analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory approach to examine learners' perspectives on the impact of rounding setting on each of the key domains.

Seventy-seven residents and 112 medical students completed the survey (response rates of 45% and 39%, respectively), and 18 interviews were conducted (10 residents and 8 medical students). Overall, both residents and medical students had a majority preference for either table or hybrid rounding over bedside rounding in nearly every domain.

Medical students overall identified more positive aspects of bedside rounding, particularly in regard to its potential to introduce opportunities for teaching or improved patient care. These findings may help institutions develop guidelines and faculty development practices for improving learner receptivity and engagement with bedside rounds.