Objective: 

This descriptive pilot study explored hospital staff nurses’ perceptions toward the practice of patient rounding.

Rounding has re-emerged as a standard practice initiative among nurses in hospitals and has been associated with a decrease in call lights and falls, increased patient satisfaction and safety, and quieter nursing units. Regardless of these outcomes, controversy exists among nurses regarding rounding.

Methods: 

The Nurses’ Perception of Patient Rounding Scale (K. Neville, unpublished manuscript, 2010) was developed to gain an understanding of nurses’ perceptions of rounding.

Results: 

Nurses identified rounding as valuable and perceived hourly rounding to be beneficial to patients and families but significantly less beneficial to their own professional practice. Challenges to rounding as a practice include issues of documentation, patient ratios, and skill mix.

Findings support the need for further research to address the challenges of patient rounding for nursing.