Proactive nurse ward rounds improve hospitals' patient satisfaction scores, study finds

Nurses taking on proactive ward rounds and sitting rather than standing at patients' bedsides are helping to boost patient satisfaction, according to research. 

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States have identified a handful of practices they say are most likely to give patients a positive hospital experience. 

The study team sent anonymous questionnaires to medical, nursing and administrative staff at 52 top-ranking or most-improved hospitals in the US to find out which actions are most likely to increase patient satisfaction.

Of the hospitals surveyed, 83% reported that proactive nurse rounds, with nurses visiting patients individually to ask a set of specific questions related to their care, were an important element of their high performance. Hospitals that have high rankings for patient satisfaction encouraged staff to make eye contact with patients or to sit at the bedside rather than standing over patients. 

In a summary of its survey findings, published in the journal Medical Care, the Johns Hopkins team concluded that medical staff at hospitals that already score well for patient experience of care shared a commitment to consistency and personal, focused interactions with patients.

Lead study author Hanan Aboumatar said: 'It’s not just about getting the physicians involved, or the nurses. Everyone involved at the hospital, all the way up to top leadership, has to place a high priority on the needs of patients and their families.'