Intentional rounding: Assessing the evidence

Intentional rounding, or checking on patients at regular intervals, has become commonplace, but does it improve care?

Every nurse knows that on a busy shift there are patients who risk losing out on care and attention. There is the quiet old lady in the corner who never asks for anything, the patient who is sleeping a lot and it is easier not to disturb, and the demanding patient who everyone scuttles past.

Intentional rounding – where nurses or healthcare assistants (HCAs) purposely tend to each patient every one or two hours – is meant to prevent this ‘overlooking’ of patients. For many nurses it has become part of the everyday care offered to patients. It received a boost in 2012 when then prime minister David Cameron endorsed it during a visit to Salford