The Impact of Bedside Interdisciplinary Rounds on Length of Stay and Complications

BACKGROUND: Communication among team members within hospitals is typically fragmented. Bedside interdisciplinary rounds (IDR) have the potential to improve communication and outcomes through enhanced structure and patient engagement. OBJECTIVE: To decrease length of stay (LOS) and complications through the transformation of daily IDR to a bedside model. DESIGN: Controlled trial. SETTING: 2 geographic areas of a medical unit using a clinical microsystem structure. PATIENTS: 2005 hospitalizations over a 12-month period. INTERVENTIONS: A bedside model (mobile interdisciplinary care rounds [MICRO]) was developed. MICRO featured a defined structure, scripting, patient engagement, and a patient safety checklist. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcomes were clinical deterioration (composite of death, transfer to a higher level of care, or development of a hospital-acquired complication) and length of stay (LOS). Patient safety culture and perceptions of bedside interdisciplinary rounding were assessed pre- and postimplementation. RESULTS: There was no difference in LOS (6.6 vs 7.0 days, P = 0.17, for the MICRO and control groups, respectively) or clinical deterioration (7.7% vs 9.3%, P = 0.46). LOS was reduced for patients transferred to the study unit (10.4 vs 14.0 days, P = 0.02, for the MICRO and control groups, respectively). Nurses and hospitalists gave significantly higher scores for patient safety climate and the efficiency of rounds after implementation of the MICRO model. LIMITATIONS: The trial was performed at a single hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Bedside IDR did not reduce overall LOS or clinical deterioration. Future studies should examine whether comprehensive transformation of medical units, including co-leadership, geographic cohorting of teams, and bedside interdisciplinary rounding, improves clinical outcomes compared to units without these features.