Family-Centered Rounding Helps Bridge Transition Home

Getting Past Hurdles

But although family-centered rounding has benefits, there are also disadvantages, according to Dr. Tamura. For one thing, he has found that at his hospital, it adds time to rounds. “It takes an extra 3 minutes a patient, which doesn't sound like a big deal until you have 20 patients,” he said. “We are continuing to work on making sure there is time to round with all the families.”

Despite all of the challenges, Dr. Rascoff said she loves involving families in rounds. “One thing people worry about is the teaching component,” she said. “Due to time constraints, we don't have as much time to do formal teaching with medical terminology, because we're trying to make it parent friendly. But what you are teaching that's essential are communication skills for residents and medical students, like how to console a parent who breaks into tears when you start talking about why their child came into the hospital. That's incredibly valuable.”