The Pros And Cons Of Hourly Rounding

Hourly Rounding

A clinical area of concern in the nursing discipline on 8 West orthopedics at Mount Carmel West is hourly patient rounding. Currently the nursing staff on 8 West does not do patient hourly rounding when providing patient care even thou the nursing manger has tried to implement hourly rounding. There have been many research studies that have shown that hourly rounding has improved patient outcomes and improved quality care nurses give to their patients. Hourly rounding can help address a potential patient problem before the problem occurs (Ford, 2010).

When the nursing team rounds on their patients hourly it is shown to have a relationship with a decrease call light use, falls, pressure ulcers, decrease in patient anxiety and increase in patient satisfaction rates (Ford, 2010). When hourly rounding does not occur on a hospital and patients cannot predict when the nurse will be available for physical and emotional assistance this can lead to patient consequences. When a patient cannot predict when the nurse will be available to assist or discuss can concerns that patient’s has can lead to an increase the patient’s anxiety level (Mitchell, Lavenberg, Trotta, & Umscheid, 2014). When a patient’s anxiety levels rises, the patient will try to compensate with inappropriate coping mechanisms such as, the patient trying to go to the

Most falls occur in the hospital setting when the patient is trying to get to the bathroom or bedside commode and ambulating on their own. (Tucker et al., 2012) With hourly rounding the nurse can help address elimination needs for the patient and help assist the patient to the bedside commode or the bathroom. With hourly rounding on patient this can help address the issue of marinating turning patients every two to help reduce the presence of a pressure ulcer and reduce pressure ulcers rate up to 56% (Ford,