The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the barriers and facilitators for interprofessional patient-centered rounding across 4 acute care units in a large urban hospital.
A qualitative descriptive method that included data gathered over an 18-month period was used.
Three data sources were included: participant observation of rounding activities, focused meetings related to interprofessional practice, and exit interviews with key informants representing multiple professions and roles. The data were analyzed, and the findings were developed through an extensive transcription, coding, and discussion process.
The facilitators and barriers related to the team included high versus low turnover of team membership, structured versus unstructured rounding, valuing versus skepticism about interprofessional practice, and confidence versus hesitancy about skills. Facilitator/barrier pairs related to the environment included rounding aligned versus mismatched with hospital’s mission, time for rounding versus competing demands, geographically cohorted versus distributed teams, and readiness for change and innovation versus saturation.
Factors associated with the members of the interprofessional team were important in successful implementation of interprofessional rounding. The organizational context and structure were also important. Leaders who anticipate implementing interprofessional rounding may incorporate knowledge of these facilitators and barriers into their planning process.
Author Affiliations: Associate Professor and Associate Dean (Dr Hendricks), Undergraduate Programs, and Project Manager (Dr LaMothe), School of Nursing, Indiana University; and IC Hospitalist (Dr Kara), and Clinical Nurse Specialist (Ms Miller), Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital, Bloomington.
This project was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services under Nurse Education, Practice, Quality, and Retention—Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (grant, UD7HP26050) over 3 years. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, or the US Government.
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Correspondence: Susan M. Hendricks, EdD, RN, CNE, 221 Cheshire Cir, Noblesville, IN 46062 (shendric@iu.edu).
