Hourly Rounding In Nursing

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Hourly Rounding
Nurses hate it when patients are constantly turning their call lights on. The nurse feels like they are continuously in and out of that room for every little thing. Patients hate it when they wait a long time for someone to show up after pressing their call light. The patient begins to feel that they are not being take care of well and are being ignored. Patient satisfaction surveys state that one of the top complaints from patients were call lights not being answered in a timely manner. There has been evidence to prove that if facilities implement hourly rounding into their daily routine patient satisfaction goes up and call light use is greatly reduced. It is also proven if patient satisfaction goes up more nurses are satisfied with their job performance and can take care of their patients better.
Hourly rounding involves someone, either a nurse or a support staff, to check on the patient once every hour. During this check “staff engage patients by checking on the 4 P’s: Pain, Positioning, potty, and proximity of personal items.”(Halm, 2014) By doing these checks we can eliminate many of the reasons why call lights are being used for. Which will give a sense of security and reduce anxiety in patients. When patients know that someone will be back in a specific time frame to check on them much of their anxiety about being in the hospital will be relieved. Disturbed sleep is another complaint of many patients in the hospital. Therefore, for hourly rounding to be effective patients will also be told that if they are sleeping we will check on them but not wake them unless it is necessary.
These hourly checks can prevent many adverse events from happening such as falls, pressure sores, and skin breakdown....

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...staff allowing more time for the nursing staff to perform nursing duties.
Hourly rounding has been proven to be effective in many hospitals throughout the United States. With many hospitals, trying to improve their patient satisfaction scores implementing an hourly rounding program seems like the right way to go. Patient satisfaction will go up when the patient feels like they are being cared for. Checking on a patient once every hour will make them feel like there is concern for their well-being, which would help them ease their anxiety. In turn hourly rounding will reduce stress for nurses making for happier nurses who are more satisfied with their work and are capable of taking care of patients better. Hourly rounding is a positive situation for both the nursing staff and the patient and should be implemented as part of standard care in every hospital.

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