Patients-The ultimate winners of multidisciplinary rounding.

Abstract

A ccording to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, multidisciplinary rounds allow healthcare workers to come together to share their expertise with the goal of improving both the quality and safety of patient care.1 Multidisciplinary rounding is known to increase positive patient outcomes and decrease the “silo effect” through improved communication between healthcare disciplines, leading to better patient and staff satisfaction.2,3 In a healthcare system that’s often chaotic and fragmented, multidisciplinary rounds not only help foster teamwork, but also increase the healthcare team’s awareness of the patient’s care plan and their ability to communicate the care plan to the patient and his or her and family.1 At our hospital, the CCUs had successfully utilized multidisciplinary rounding for over 6 years; patient satisfaction scores for communication with doctors, communication with nurses, and discharge planning were higher on the CCUs compared with the medical units that hadn’t incorporated multidisciplinary rounding. Staff members present for multidisciplinary rounding on the CCUs included, but weren’t limited to, the patient’s primary RN and licensed independent practitioner, the chief medical officer (CMO), the nurse manager, the pharmacist, and the case manager. During rounding, the areas of care reviewed included the medication regimen, indication for use of central line and indwelling urinary catheters, the patient’s length of stay, any psychological and social concerns, and the patient’s discharge plan. A pilot team was formed to implement multidisciplinary rounding on a busy telemetry unit. The team developed goals and utilized