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Pharmacy Resident Karen Too (left), Medical Student Elizabeth Morrison, Physiotherapist Stephanie Green, Registered Nurse Shannon Stather and Dr. Loree Boyle visit Valerie FitzGerald in her 5Northeast room at The Ottawa Hospital as part of her Patient Bedside Review.
Valerie FitzGerald was waiting patiently in her 5Northeast room at The Ottawa Hospital to see her doctor when at least half a dozen people walked in to see her.
“At first I thought we were going to have a party,” she said. Instead, it was her Patient Bedside Review, a collaborative rounding process that started on the Civic Campus’ medicine floors and has now moved over to the General Campus.
The goal is to improve the patients’ experience by streamlining communication amongst the team and including patients in the discussion of their medical issues and care plan. Each morning, 10 patients are selected who would be best served by a bedside review. The rounding schedule is then finalized based on break times and other team activities. The team – staff doctor, residents, nurses, pharmacists, with social workers and physiotherapists welcome to join – spend 10 minutes with each patient in their room, charting a course for the day and until their discharge.
“They were very thorough and they all took the time to listen to me,” FitzGerald said. “You can tell if they’re not listening, but I could tell they all cared.”
Although the idea isn’t new, getting it off the ground took the commitment of the Nursing Professional Practice Department, the Quality and Patient Safety Department and the Division of General Internal Medicine. Medicine teams were reorganized to be associated with a particular unit, which improves the continuity of care for patients as they get to know their health-care team throughout their admission.
Dr. Krista Wooller (left) and Clinical Manager Janet Hansen collaborate through Patient Bedside Rounding on A5 at the Civic Campus.
“This opened up opportunities for our medicine teams to collaborate much more closely with the nurses and other health-care professionals from each ward,” said Dr. Krista Wooller, Civic Campus Site Chief for General Internal Medicine.
Like anything worth pursuing, there have been some bumps in the road: sometimes the rounds are cancelled because of medical emergencies or staff member availability, but the response has been resoundingly positive.
“It’s great for us because it cuts down on unnecessary phone calls,” said Shannon Stather, RN on 5Northeast. “We can ask questions, clarify the care plan and go forward with the day with everyone on the same page.”
“It helps to create a positive environment for the patients and their families,” said Dr. Contreras-Dominguez, one of the first staff doctors to try the process last July. “The patients get to know the members of the team who are all committed to their care.”
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