Why Rounding Remains One of Healthcare’s Most Powerful Patient Experience Practices

By Jason Messerli, Strategic Advisor, NRC Health  

Rounding has been a best practice for decades. However, it is routinely treated as the basics. One of the most common questions I receive is, “If we can only do one thing, what should we do?” My answer is almost always rounding.  

When done well, rounding drives meaningful outcomes. It lifts patient loyalty, improves staff morale, increases leadership visibility, and connects teams to the purpose of our work. I have also been a patient myself, and seen firsthand how impactful great rounding practices can be.  

In our recent NRC Health nSight, we explore why rounding is such an effective practice—and the details are a little more nuanced than you might think.  

The first is interpersonal communication and trust. Without a consistent, dedicated time for these discussions, communication with patients happens on an ad-hoc basis. Interactions are intermittent, and there is little forethought to what could be addressed proactively.  

Our research shows a very strong connection between rounding and interpersonal communication, and the reason for this is clear. The intervention of a round presents an opportunity.  

It grants both caregiver and patient a consistent time to have effective dialogue, create a connection, educate, answer questions, assuage concerns, and even remove barriers to success.  

We also see that there is a very significant link between rounding and the operational and environmental aspects of care. These are issues that may persist due to the fact that a leader hasn’t witnessed them firsthand.  

I’m reminded of a community hospital I worked with that had recently purchased new nursing carts. For months, the organization’s leaders had been hearing the carts weren’t charged and the batteries were dying while nurses were documenting with patients.  

Nurses were increasingly frustrated. It wasn’t until their COO rounded on a unit that the root cause became obvious: the charging outlets were all located inside the nurses’ station, so plugging in the carts meant sacrificing workspace.  

The COO quickly called an electrician and had all outlets moved to the outside of the nurses’ station. Morale improved, nursing staff felt heard, and patients had notably better experiences as a result. Rounding didn’t just identify the problem—it accelerated the solution.

Our best-in-class rounding solution provides the necessary structure and format for leaders to address not only the operational and environmental aspects of care, but also the aspects of interpersonal communication that build trust. It gives leaders the opportunity to model effective behaviors and creates opportunities for coaching, growth, and development.  

Organizations can quickly identify where there may be gaps in expertise, and tangibly recognize the behaviors they want to see. It also provides a simple way to share internal knowledge, which can sometimes be the most effective and expeditious way to bring about a resolution.  

Consider this: what are the issues you hear about each and every day? What if those were documented and quantified, and you could respond to them quickly with real solutions? Rounding makes that possible. 

Time constraints are real, and not every patient requires the same level of attention. That’s why prioritization matters. NRC Health Rounding helps leaders focus where it matters most by predicting which patients may be at higher risk for a negative experience, using a combination of data and insights. 

We also know that at times a computer, tablet, or other device can be a detriment to effective patient interaction. Balancing documentation while interacting can be challenging, and small things can be missed. With our innovative technology, we free clinicians from the rounding documentation burden so they can focus their full attention on the patient.  

I often see that there is a hesitancy among non-clinical leaders to round. Leaders either don’t know what to say, don’t want to bother staff, or are nervous to speak with patients. And while scripting can be helpful, we provide guidance around the type of questions to ask, too.  

By utilizing a succinct format with best-practice recommendations, we create a consistent and replicable approach to rounding, which provides guidance while giving extra help to those for whom the process may not feel natural.

Sometimes the simplest things make the biggest difference. Several years ago, I was working with an organization in Mississippi whose leaders were reluctant to begin executive rounding because they didn’t feel they had a good enough reason to enter the patient’s room.  

When they started, they created what they called their Paper Route, where their executives were given a certain number of papers each morning to hand-deliver to patients. This became their opportunity for a warm introduction and a reason for visiting.  

Over time, those same leaders stated that it was their favorite part of their week. And the results at their organization spoke for themselves: their patient experience scores rose dramatically, morale shot up, and they even saw greater consistency with other best practices like whiteboard usage, hourly rounds, and bedside shift reporting.  

All this improvement didn’t happen because papers were being delivered; it was because the organization’s leaders took a step to model the behavior they wanted to see. They were providing support to their staff, remaining visible and available, and demonstrating that they were all in this together.

In its simplest form, a round is a promise. It sets an expectation with a patient, family, and friends that they can depend on you as their advocate, even when you aren’t in the room. And our research clearly shows that what a round enables you to do is what truly makes a difference.  

Whether it’s strengthening trust, improving communication, or uncovering operational challenges, rounding remains one of the most powerful and often underestimated practices in healthcare—and it’s time we stopped thinking of it as the basics.