Care rounds are essential to the care of patients. I work in a hospital setting where care rounding is done every two hours by the Registered Nurse and every two hours by the nurse tech. I think this is a good nursing practice. There are times when rounding the nurse may notice the patient has a change in condition. While doing my care round on ICUSD. I noticed my patient had a right-side facial droop. Upon further assessment the patient also was having slurred speech. With my nursing experience and knowledge. I knew to call a stroke alert as well as notify the attending MD. My quick response gave the patient a better outcome as she had experienced a (CVA) stroke. She received the medical attention she needed and did well. For the experienced nurse encountering a familiar situation, the needed knowledge is readily solicited; the nurse is able to respond intuitively, based on an immediate clinical grasp and just “knowing what to do” (Cioffi, 2000). By knowing your patients prior condition will allow you to notice if there has been a change. When care rounds are implemented every two hours as required nurses often catch many preventable patient safety incidents. In my practice I’ve discovered on occasion my patients bed alarm was disarmed. Nurses, techs and therapist get busy and forget to turn on bed alarms. In doing care rounds this is an opportunity to assess the safety of our patients and correct anything we find unsafe. There was also a time during care rounds I discovered a patient had fallen. With knowledge and experience I knew what to do. We can teach student nurses the importance of care rounding by example. We also teach them by reflecting on times we had to respond. From calling for help, to making sure patient / family and nurse are safe. We need to know who is a fall risk, notice the bed alarm and follow all precautions during care round. “Nurses’ noticing and initial grasp of the clinical situation trigger one or more reasoning patterns, all of which support nurses’ interpreting the meaning of the data and determining an appropriate course of action.“ (Tanner, 2006). Care rounding has been a part of my facility for many years. I have had many great outcomes because of this practice. It has proven to be an essential practice at our hospital. It is proven to be effective based on tracking safety standards and our hospitals’ compliance with evidence-based research. With care rounding we can keep our patients safe.
References
Cioffi, J. (2000). Recognition of patients who require emergency assistance: A descriptive study. Heart & Lung, 29(4), 262–268. Retrieved May 14, 2022, from https://doi.org/10.1067/mhl.2000.108327
Thinking like a nurse: A research-based model of clinical judgment in nursing. (2006). Journal of Nursing Education, 45(6), 204–211. Retrieved May 14, 2022, from https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20060601-04
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