Staff on Waddington Ward at Lincoln County Hospital have implemented 24 hourly rounding charts which is the process in which every hour, a staff member enters the patients area communications, mobilising the patient and encourages activities of daily living– using the traffic light colours, Red, amber and green. We decided to implement a change following a serious incident on the ward. A patient’s mobility deteriorated rapidly over time and the patient developed a grade 3 pressure ulcer whilst on the ward. After investigating the incident, we realised that the documentation could be improved and the 24 hourly rounding often got missed due to the paperwork living in the patient’s files. The eight theories of intentional rounding is to allocate the time to care, visibility of nursing staff, improve the nurse-patient communication and relationship and patient empowerment.
We have started printing all the 24 hourly rounding sheets in red, yellow and green pending on the
patients mobility, skin integrity (waterlow score). We locate the chart at the end of the bed on a clipboard in the appropriate colour. This enables the MDT (ALL) to visually see the 24 hourly rounding charts whilst at the patient’s bedside which is a small reminder. We encourage all staff to fill these charts in.
This has and will continue to improve patient, nurse communication and relationships, reduce skin break down. Improve patient’s perception of their care in the hospital.
Our haematology & oncology ward, 7a at Pilgrim Hospital is also implementing this change.
Polly Johnson
Waddington Ward manager