A new report from UK healthcare professional leaders including the RCP, and developed along with patients, sets out best practice for modern ward rounds.
Modern Ward Rounds: Good practice for multidisciplinary inpatient review brings together the good practice currently being delivered in the NHS and enables clinical teams to self-assess against this and identify priorities for improvement. It offers organisational leaders a template for a standardised approach to multidisciplinary team inpatient assessment, which can be delivered through hospital-wide improvement programmes.
The guidance describes how care can be delivered in hospital in partnership with patients, families and carers, and has the potential to revitalise care to improve outcomes. To support implementation, the report includes templates, checklists and advice.
The guidance was produced by the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Nursing, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, NHS England and has the support of the GIRFT (Getting it Right First Time) programme.
Sarah Clarke, clinical vice president of the Royal College of Physicians and GIRFT joint clinical lead for cardiology, said: “Although there is no agreed national guidance for ward rounds, many of our dedicated and experienced NHS staff have developed innovative and cohesive practice in their own hospitals. We have been able to draw on this best practice to inform these guidelines, and I am grateful to colleagues in many NHS Trusts who submitted supportive case studies, available as an appendix to this document.”
Alongside the report, easy to use guides, templates and checklists have also been published to assist teams in making the necessary improvements. They can be found here: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/modern-ward-rounds
