Interactive Educational Program for Purposeful Leader Rounding

This education project was to introduce nurse managers to the evidence-based practice of daily purposeful leader rounding on all staff in this acute care facility. The need for practice change was evidenced by low all employee survey and the Survey of Healthcare Experience of Patients (SHEP) results; low retention rates throughout the inpatients units; and an increase of patient safety events in fiscal year 2023. Leadership rounding is an evidence-based practice that increases staff retention by supporting and engaging staff. The purpose of the interactive education was to increase the knowledge and self-confidence of the participants to assist in hardwiring the practice and to perform leader rounding consistently and effectively. The project question was: will an interactive education program on evidence-based leader rounding practices increase the knowledge and self-confidence of managers? The sources of evidence were peer-reviewed published studies on the practice of purposeful leader rounding in the inpatient setting, netting over 100 studies in the last 5 years. The education program included didactic instruction and role play using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid purposeful rounding guide. Eighteen nurse managers participated. The pre/post test comparison showed an improvement in knowledge and confidence of 70%, reinforced by the reporting of an increase in regular rounding from 22% prior to education to 88% within 1 week of the program. Recommendations include digitizing this process to allow for greater analysis of data and senior leadership mentoring to sustain the practice change. The social change of leadership support for nurses has the potential to improve care for all patients, regardless of diversity thus supporting equity and inclusion.