Leader Rounding for High Reliability and Improved Patient Safety

Abstract

Background: Critical to providing safe, effective patient care is ensuring that communication is open and transparent among all members of the health care team. However, current evidence shows that poor communication is commonplace, contributing to medical errors and poor patient outcomes. Implementing leader rounding may improve communication and reliability. The purpose of this initiative was to create an evidence-based process for the implementation of leader rounding for high reliability at the Veterans Affairs Bedford Healthcare System in Massachusetts. Observations: We conducted a review of medical literature from 2015 to 2022 that found little research specifically related to leader rounding for high reliability. We created a formal and interactive process to improve patient safety by increasing communication among senior leadership, interdisciplinary teams, and frontline staff. Conclusions: Open, transparent, and bidirectional communication among all staff is critical to improving patient safety and promoting a culture of safety in health care. This initiative may be of value to other health care organizations that are working to improve patient safety. Future efforts will focus on developing a robust evaluation program to explore the impact of leader rounding for high reliability on safety outcomes.