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Purposes and Processes of Nursing Rounds

Nursing rounds, also called ward rounds, are core activities in inpatient care where decisions are made and tasks are allocated to aid daily ward operations. The rounds provide a link between patient admission and discharge or transfer. Their purposes include acquainting nurses with new patients, demonstrating care procedures, and reviewing patient progress. The rounds have three stages - preparation before, decision making during, and follow up tasks after. Nurses play several roles in rounds such as advocating for patients, preparing them, enabling care transitions, informing patients, organizing care, and being competent in patient responsibilities.

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3K views2 pages

Purposes and Processes of Nursing Rounds

Nursing rounds, also called ward rounds, are core activities in inpatient care where decisions are made and tasks are allocated to aid daily ward operations. The rounds provide a link between patient admission and discharge or transfer. Their purposes include acquainting nurses with new patients, demonstrating care procedures, and reviewing patient progress. The rounds have three stages - preparation before, decision making during, and follow up tasks after. Nurses play several roles in rounds such as advocating for patients, preparing them, enabling care transitions, informing patients, organizing care, and being competent in patient responsibilities.

Uploaded by

Cnette S. Lumbo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Nursing Rounds
  • Nurses’ Role in the Nursing Rounds

Nursing Rounds

Nursing Rounds
or Ward Rounds are established, but sometimes fragmented, core activity of
inpatient care during which decisions are made and tasks allocated that aid the daily
running of wards (Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Nursing, 2012).

The Nursing Round is an essential organizational process providing a link between


patients’ admission to hospital and their discharge or transfer elsewhere.
In the absence of ward rounds there would be inertia in the patient flow, particularly
for unplanned (emergency) activity for which the preplanning of care is not always
possible.

Purposes of Nursing Rounds


1. To acquaint nurses with all patients on the more purposeful care may be
achieved for each patient.
2. To help nurses to get acquainted with new patients.
3. To carry out demonstration of therapeutic procedures on / for the patients.
4. To illustrate skillful nursing care.
5. To learn about disease, pattern of care and treatment.
6. To demonstrate the effect of drugs used in the treatment.

3 Distinct Stages
A. Antecedents (before)
 Establishing results of investigations;
 Preparing patients - in most cases this simply involves letting them know the
round will be taking place;
 Encouraging patients to think about any questions they may have, which may
help to avoid their forgetting what is important to them;
 Chasing up any multidisciplinary perspectives of care to discuss on the ward
round.

B. Critical attributes (during)


This refers to the key activities, and perhaps type of structure, that is integral to a
ward round:
 Review of unstable or deteriorating patients;
 Decision making and documenting of care;
 Review of patients going home (pre-discharge);
 Review of patients’ progress during their inpatient stay.

C. Consequences (after)
Once the ward round is over, a number of activities will be necessary:
 Team organization;
 Progression of tasks;
 Communications;
 Repetition of information to the patient;
 Motivation of the ward team.

Nurses’ Role in the Nursing Rounds

Advocate
1. Adequately preparing for the ward round (safeguarding patients’ interests);
2. Empowering patients to ask questions on the ward round (being included);
3. Communicating with the multidisciplinary team after a ward round.

Chaperone
1. Preparing the patient for examination through communication and positioning;
2. Taking responsibility for dignity and privacy;
3. Minimizing any anxiety and potential embarrassment;
4. Respecting cultural wishes throughout the process.

Enable Transitions
1. Noting any ongoing investigations and communicating these to the patient
and team;
2. For patient transfers, documenting any incomplete investigations/actions on a
handover checklist;
3. For patient discharges, documenting any relevant information on the
discharge checklist
4. For specialty referrals, completing a management plan indicating any next
steps in the care pathway.

Informative
1. Reiterate information during or after a ward round;
2. Prepare the patient for the next steps in the care pathway;
3. Explain anything (along the way) that the patient may not understand;
4. Encourage the patient to ask questions or express concerns;
5. Report back to the nursing team.

Organizer
1. Delegating effectively to different team members;
2. Arranging transport and medication to take home;
3. Requesting specific items of equipment that are required;
4. Organizing care packages.

Competent
1. Responsible for an allocated number of patients, who will undertake the ward
round for those patients;
2. In- charge of a whole ward or unit who is clinically overseeing all areas of the
ward and will feed back to nurses after the ward round;
3. Acts in a coordinating capacity for the shift and will be responsible for feeding
back information after the ward round to other nurses.

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