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Hourly Rounding Debuts at NMC
St. Albans-- Few things are more frustrating for hospital patients than sitting in a hospital bed waiting for the nurse call light to be answered. At Northwestern Medical Center, the inpatient Medical/Surgical Unit and the Intensive Care Unit nurses are improving patient satisfaction with a healthy dose of prevention.
In January, nurses at NMC began “hourly rounding” to more proactively address patient needs around pain, positioning, and personal needs, also known as “The 3 P’s.” By planning a visit to each patient every hour in which nurses regularly ask questions of the patient relating to The 3 P’s, nurses are solving any potential concerns before they become issues.
Bonnie Griffiths, BSN, NMC’s Med/Surg and ICU Nurse Manager, says that call lights, while being important tools for patients to ask for assistance from nurses, also often contribute to delays for other patients as nurses can find themselves bouncing from room to room.
 Griffiths says that patients who know their nurse will visit again in ten minutes are more likely to avoid pressing the call button for immediate assistance with non-urgent items. When the expectations are clear, patients feel more secure that their needs will be met, says Griffiths.
Keely Sullivan, RN, the Clinical Resource Nurse for Med/Surg & ICU, agrees that hourly rounding helps patients feel secure and safe while in the hospital, and also adds opportunities for patients to more actively participate in their care. She says, “With nurses purposefully asking about pain, positioning, and personal needs each hour, patients and family members feel more secure that their needs will be met throughout their stay.”
Sullivan says that the new approach is grounded in high expectations that the nurses have set for themselves. “As nurses we try our best to treat our patients as if they were our family members, and we believe that the purposeful hourly rounding approach to caring for our patients is what we would expect if our loved ones were in the hospital,” she says. “A sense of security and trust are important in allowing our patients to heal and become well again. We don’t want them to have to worry about whether or not someone will answer their light if they need something.”
Occasionally, rather than wait for a nurse, patients sometimes attempt to do more than they should without assistance, like walking to the bathroom or moving from the bed to a chair. For patients in a hospital, simple tasks such as these can quickly become safety issues. Griffiths says that increasing patient safety and preventing patient falls is another key driver behind an hourly rounding program.
“The research is showing that hourly rounding decreases patient falls, and increases both patient and nurse satisfaction,” said Griffiths.
The effects of illness and medications sometimes make it difficult for patients to remember all of the details of their care. Now at NMC, nurses use white dry-erase boards in patient rooms to provide a visible reminder to patients and their family members of their doctors and nurses’ names, as well as their daily goals that are made in collaboration with nursing staff. Patients also receive business cards from the nurses with information about the hourly rounding program and contact information if they have questions about the program.
By implementing this innovative, inexpensive approach, the hospital hopes for positive outcomes. “It’s all for the benefit of the patient,” said Griffiths. “These simple concepts help provide for a better patient experience.”
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